


and they were coursemates.

by kittensandcake



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: College AU, M/M, University AU, sike this is about UK university buckle up kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 02:44:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17316572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittensandcake/pseuds/kittensandcake
Summary: Armitage Hux is a second year aerospace engineer, BSc. Intelligent, hard-working, and getting plastered literally as much as he can. But instead of achieving the tutor of his dreams, Professor Tarkin, he's stuck with the creepy old guy who's taken over one of the oldest offices on campus. And not only that, but this hulking, dark-haired, /American/ BA student is now the one thing between him, and an internship at First Order Incorporated...





	1. what the fuck, kylo

**Author's Note:**

> art by the lovely readytaketwo, here on
> 
> twitter: https://twitter.com/readytaketwo  
> tumblr: readytake2.tumblr.com
> 
> and of course a shout out to the ever wonderful invadxrs (invxdxrs on twitter) for being an inspiration, a sounding board, and the only person to lament with me that all college fics are set in the US. Jay, this is for us and for Spoons pitchers. <3

“Who the fuck is Professor Snoke?”

Phasma glanced up from her pint to look at Hux, scowling down at his phone. “I don’t know, Hux.”

“You’re a third-year. You should know,” Hux said, huffing and leaning back in the booth, gin and tonic in hand. He read from his phone:  _ “Dear Armitage Hux, We would like to inform you that due to unforeseen circumstances, you have been assigned a new second-year tutor.  Instead of Professor Tarkin, your tutor will be Professor Snoke.” _ He glared into his glass. “I fought for Tarkin. He worked with NASA, for Christ’s sake, and Boeing can’t keep their hands off of him. Now they’ve given me some fucking prick I’ve never heard of.” Hux rubbed his hands through his hair, heedless of the careful styling that had gone into it that morning. “Tarkin was going to guarantee me a place at First Order.”

Phasma took a deep drink of her pint... “Tutors get changed all the time. I had Motti for first and second year, then he went and got an offer from Cambridge. And really, you’re the same student. If you’re going to get to First Order, you’re going to get to First Order, regardless of your tutor.”

Hux rolled his eyes. “You got Rae out of it, for fuck’s sake. Don’t act like it was even bad for you.”

Phasma grinned with an innocent shrug. “Well, yeah, okay.” 

She really had gotten lucky with regards to her tutor, something Hux couldn’t help but be intensely jealous of. Criminology didn’t have a lot of professors that Hux thought worthy of praise, but Rae Sloane was the powerhouse of the department. After all her work with Scotland Yard and several prolific cases under her belt, she was a bit of a local legend. Of course, they were working towards drastically different degrees; Hux just wished that he could have had a bit of Phasma’s good fortune with regards to tutors. He groaned and put his phone down on the vaguely sticky table before reconsidering and returning it to his hand instead. The union tables really weren’t that nice, even though they had come to the slightly nicer part of it. It could either be called a shitty pub or vaguely shitty restaurant-cum-bar.

“Who the fuck even calls themselves a professor?” he said after a moment of thought, playing with his glass. “No-one. Literally no-one, apart from the fossils here. They think it’s important to let everyone know they got their degree back when they handed them out to anyone with a few functioning brain cells.”.”

“Christ, Hux, you are so pissed about this,” Phasma laughed with a shake of her head. “We can all agree our predecessors had it much easier than us, and that the system is screwed-up, but come on. I’m sure they’ve given him to you for a reason.” She leaned over and held out her hand, wiggling her fingers. “Let me see the email.”

Hux reluctantly unlocked his phone and passed it over for her to read, leaning back to sulk over his gin. He might even have another one, given the awful circumstances. He couldn’t bear to think about what this ‘Snoke’ would be like. Tarkin was just…so fucking good. He had a line to Empire Consultants, and there really was no better way to go over his father’s head to get into First Order. Tarkin was his ticket into that place. Or at least, he was going to be. Before everything had been fucked up.

“Who’s Kylo Ren?”

Hux blinked, looking up at Phasma. “What?”

“Who’s Kylo Ren?” She looked at Hux over his phone, before looking back to the email and reading aloud:  _ “Due to the late nature of this change, you will be sharing your tutor with a new international student, Kylo Ren.” _

Hux frowned and leaned over to look at the email again, scrolling to where Phasma had been reading from, before letting out an exasperated sound. “I don’t fucking know. It’s a ridiculous name, for one thing. What kind of place does the name Kylo come from?”

“Probably a fake one, if you googled it,” Phasma hummed, deftly chucking Hux’s phone back at him so he had to clap a hand to his chest just to catch it in time. “Ah well. You’ll get to meet him soon enough, at least.”

“He’s probably an engineer too,,” Hux mused as he slid his phone into his pocket. “At least I won’t be with a complete fucking idiot for the whole year,”

“Oh, no, but isn’t everyone around you a complete fucking idiot?” Phasma teased, glancing at him with a grin that was just too smug to be pleasant. “After all, Thanisson is an idiot, Unamo is an idiot, Mitaka can’t even hold a candle to what you can do in thermofluids…”

Hux’s eyes narrowed at Phasma, and she held out her hands. “You know I’m right, you dick. A bit of teamwork might be good for you.”

“I’m not going to be working in a team when I make Director.”

“Yeah, and what about until then?” Phasma leaned over the table and stared at Hux, brows raised. “Just think about it, yeah? Frankly, I’m amazed the group’s actually stuck around you. But after that whole business with Dameron, I just — ”

Hux bristled, and Phasma seemed to take the hint. She sighed, shaking her head a little. “Fine. Just...think about it.” She drained her glass before checking her phone for the time. “Nine forty-five. Just in time for my seminar.” 

It had been a week, and Hux had still not seen ‘Professor Snoke’ or the even more mysterious ‘Kylo Ren.’ Freshers’ week had been in full swing, so he supposed Kylo had spent most of his time enjoying it. Even those who were well into their second and third years still got into the week of clubbing and drinking, so whoever this prick was he was bound to be doing the same thing. At least he would have, if he was a regular student and not some strange recluse who did nothing during freshers’ week besides order takeaway and hide away in their room. Hux hoped Kylo was familiar with basic personal hygiene.. It was likely he wouldn’t have to spend too much time with him, of course, but the last thing Hux wanted was to spend a few hours a month sat next to some disgusting fresher who was still trying to figure out how to live without Mummy and Daddy holding their hand..

 

But just as he was finally thinking he’d gotten off of the hook and wouldn’t have to meet either Snoke or Kylo yet, Hux’s phone told him he had a new email..

_ Tutor meeting today, four o’clock. Prepare and bring a general CV. _

_ Snoke. _

His office number was listed in his email signature. All this was relatively normal. Hux had had to write his CV for first year, after all, and universities seemed to be obsessed with getting things like that ready before their students left for jobs and the wider world. Hux already had his CV saved in one of the impeccably labelled folders on his laptop, and it was the work of a moment between his lectures to go to the library and print off a copy. He just hoped that this Kylo wouldn’t have a clue about what to do, and Hux could walk away from the meeting at least feeling validated that this tutor — and co-tutee — were completely below him.

The building housing Snoke’s office wasn’t anywhere near the Engineering complex. It wasn’t near Life Sciences, Maths, Physics, or even the Oceanography building, which  was really more of a glorified shack. It was in quite possibly the oldest building Hux had ever seen, on the arse-end of campus, almost in the housing estate that surrounded it. No keypad for Hux to tap his student card to, but when he pressed his hand to the front door it swung open, rather ominously. 

“I’m going to die here,” Hux muttered to himself before walking inside, his eyes adjusting to the relative darkness inside.

There was no cell reception, of course. They probably couldn’t even afford it in this building. Old 80s décor was prominent in the corridor Hux walked through, a sad dying plant at the end of it. He walked a few steps further only to hear a door slam shut behind him: Hux almost leapt out of his skin, whipping around to see someone standing in the doorway he’d just come through, breathing heavily and looking as if he’d just run here.

Hux adjusted his backpack and narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.. He was tall. Hux knew that he himself was tall, especially at this university, but this person was a good few inches taller than him. Not to mention how broad he was in comparison. He almost filled up the damn doorway, and as he made his way down the narrow corridor it looked as though he’d have trouble fitting. 

But of course, he didn’t, and Hux finally got a clearer look at him. A young man, with dark floppy hair and the most atrocious sense of style Hux had ever seen. His jeans had rips in, but it looked as though they’d been acquired through years of use instead of an industrial process.

“You Hux?” the stranger asked.

Hux blinked, looking up at him. “Pardon?”

“Hux, right? We have Snoke together?”

Good grief. He was  American. Not  _ just _ American, but aggressively American.

“Yes.” Hux forced a thin, barely-there smile. “So…you must be…Kylo?”

Kylo nodded and smiled back, sticking out his hand.. “Nice to meet you.”

Hux regarded the hand for a few seconds before raising his brows and glancing around. “Do you know where this Snoke’s office is? I didn’t even know this building existed.”

Kylo’s hand faltered. He lowered it and and shoved it deep into his pocket, his face falling somewhat. “I don’t know either.. This campus is so big, it took me a while to find my way here.”

Hux narrowed his eyes. You could walk from one end of the campus to the other in fifteen minutes; compared to some universities, it was tiny.

“Well, I suppose you’re new. I’ve already been here a year,” Hux said dismissively. , He walked over to a couple of doors to see if anything was written on them. Most of the rooms seemed empty, which Hux couldn’t even imagine. It was dog-eat-dog when it came to office space on campus, but apparently this building was the single exception.

“I don’t even know what faculty Snoke belongs to,” Hux said after a moment, partially to himself and partially to Kylo. 

Kylo perked up: “I’m in art history, so…probably that?”

Hux baulked. _ “Art history?” _ he all but hissed, his brows furrowing. There was no way. “I’m in aero, for God’s sake. Why would I need an art history tutor?”

Kylo stared at him blankly for a moment. Hux scowled and rolled his eyes. “Aero. Aerospace engineering. Planes, rockets, maths, all of the things your degree doesn’t do.”

Kylo reacted to that with a scowl, grabbing the strap of his messenger bag in a tight grip. “Right. So you’re an elitist.”

Hux laughed humourlessly. “My degree guarantees  thirty thousand quid a year at the end of my degree, and sixty when I’m chartered. What do you even do with yours?”

There was no reaction, aside from Kylo all but barging past Hux, shouldering him out of the way as he moved on to check some of the other doors. Hux scowled and brushed off his shoulder before reluctantly following Kylo just to see where the hell he was going. He’d already checked all of the rooms, for Christ’s sake.

Of course Kylo found the right door, though, somehow overlooked by Hux.

“Professor Snoke?” he called, knocking.

“Come in.”

Kylo  pushed inside. Hux followed, and found himself face-to-face with this Snoke character. He was old. Decrepit, even. The oldest person Hux had ever seen in academia. The man had no hair, not even any white wisps, and what looked like…Hux did a double take, trying not to stare but also finding it incredibly hard not to. The man’s head almost looked like it was sunken in: taking this in, Hux was amazed that he was still alive. How the hell had something like that happened?

“I am Professor Snoke,” their tutor rasped. 

Kylo gave a tentative, respectful nod, saying nothing, before sitting down in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. Hux lingered by the door for a second before following suit, sitting down in the chair but not relaxing just yet.

“Kylo Ren. Armitage Hux.” Snoke gazed at each of them in turn,, and Hux felt like he was being told off by his headteacher all over again. It wasn’t a feeling he enjoyed. . He cleared his throat, watching as Snoke’s gaze slid over to him, and he could feel Kylo stiffening beside him.

“I prefer Hux,” he said, looking right back at Snoke. “If you don’t mind.”

Snoke stared back at him for a while, before a thin smile spread over his face and his gaze flicked back to Kylo for a moment. “Hux, then.”

Hux looked between the two of them. Did they know each other, somehow? It damned well felt like it.

“You’re both my tutees for the new university year,” Snoke said, leaning back in his chair and pressing his arms down onto the armrests, looking like he was all but keeping himself from leaping out of it. “I understand that you might have some concerns, Hux. You originally requested Professor Wilhuff Tarkin for your tutor, is that correct?”

“Yes. His experience in the aerospace industry and knowledge of the specifics of my degree — ”

Snoke waved a hand at him, and Hux stared. Did he just get shut up by his tutor?

“Tarkin is knowledgeable in his field, of course. But you were recommended to me with a reference to…what was it?” Snoke moved the mouse on the computer on his desk  — a prehistoric-looking thing with a monitor the size of a boulder  — before steepling his fingers together. “Ah yes, to  _ broaden your horizons. _ ”

Hux blinked. Who on earth would recommend him for that? He didn’t need something like that, did he? He was specialising for a reason; his horizons were broad enough. 

Snoke leaned back again. “This is why the two of you have become my tutees. Kylo here is studying art history, but I believe he will benefit from your work ethic. Just as you might benefit from being more flexible in your approach to your degree.”

Hux bristled at that, and put his hands down into his lap. He had got a first in his first year, and was predicted to get a first at the end of his degree…

“Of course, Professor.” Kylo nodded in agreement with Snoke, and Hux looked over at him as if he’d grown a second head.

“Excellent.” Snoke leaned back again in his chair and eyed the pair of them. “I asked you both to bring your CVs. Did you do that?”

Hux made a face, but still pulled the folder from his bag and handed over the pristine copy of his CV, sliding it onto the desk. He glanced over at Kylo, who seemed to go through eighteen different crumpled pieces of paper before he finally pulled something out. Hux’s was a double-sided page, but by the looks of it, Kylo’s was barely a few sentences. There was no formatting, no links…it was clear he hadn’t done something like this before. Hux smirked over at Kylo for a moment, smug in his abilities, before glancing over at the desk and seeing what he could read from the paper Kylo had presented.

_ High School: _

_ Major in Art History _

_ Minor in German _

_ Experience in piloting _

Both papers were whisked away before Hux could get a better look at Kylo’s, but what he had seen was intriguing enough. A pilot? He was barely nineteen, for Christ’s sake; how could he have experience in piloting? And what use was German?

“Good.” Snoke tapped the pieces of paper together and slid them into a drawer. “I’ll look these over and send feedback. In the meantime, I want you both to write two thousand words about the other’s degree and its benefits to society.”

Hux gawked. He literally felt his jaw drop and his eyes go wide.

“Two thousand words?” he asked after a moment of shock.

Snoke looked over at him, a faint smile still on his lips. “Is that a problem?”

Hux made a sound of protest. “I have forty contact hours a week. I have weekly tests, assignments, labs…”

“It won’t be a problem, Professor.”

Hux shot a scathing look in Kylo’s direction. What the hell? Was he just speaking for the pair of them now? Hux narrowed his eyes, lips parting to begin his protest again. Kylo probably had four lectures a week, if that. Not to mention how his first year didn’t even count in the long run.

“Good. I trust you’ll be able to send in the essay as well, Hux?” Snoke looked over at him. “But if it’ll be too much…well, that would be a shame.”

Hux could practically see the bait in Snoke’s words. That’s exactly what it was, of course. But fuck if he wasn’t competitive enough to take it. He could write two thousand words. It was only art history, after all; there had to be something about it online.

He swallowed and forced his own thin smile. “When is it due?”

“A week today. Bring a paper copy to my office.” Snoke clicked his mouse and leaned in to look at something on his computer. “You can go now.”

Hux didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed his bag and all but vaulted out of his chair, not at all interested in anything else his new tutor had to say. Theoretically, he didn’t have to do the essay. What was Snoke going to do, complain about Hux to the head of the faculty?

Hux had managed to take one step out of the doorway before he felt a hand on his arm, pulling him back. He whirled around.

“What do you want?” he snapped, pulling his arm free of Kylo’s grasp. “Haven’t I got a ridiculous essay to go and write?”

Kylo narrowed his eyes, his hands folding into fists at his sides. “You shouldn’t speak to Snoke like that.”

Hux laughed. “Shouldn’t speak to him like what?”

“Like…that.” Kylo gestured angrily. “He’s your tutor. You should show him some respect.”

Hux laughed again this time and shook his head, moving away a step. He couldn’t quite believe it. “Look, I don’t know what it’s like in America and all that, but teachers and ‘professors’ aren’t…” He waved his hand briefly.“They’re not that important. Especially when they act like absolute pricks for no reason.”

Kylo actually took a step back at that, and looked…shocked? Offended? Either way, it was rather hilarious.

Hux rolled his eyes. “Look. I know you’re a first-year. You’ve not done this before. But you should know that tutors really aren’t all that. Neither are lecturers. If they’re a dick to you…” Hux shrugged. “I’m not above some sucking up if it means I’ll get something out of it, but you don’t have to actually like them.” He looked at Kylo, narrowing his eyes a little. He wasn’t quite sure what the other really thought about Snoke, but it felt like there was a very strange relationship between the two of them. That was weird enough on its own.

“Do you already know Snoke from somewhere?” Hux asked after a beat, tilting his head to the side.

The reaction was immediate. Kylo’s face actually paled for a moment, before he scoffed, “Yeah, right.” He shook his head, shoving a hand into his pocket. “I just think I should give the people who teach us respect. They’re spending their time on us; he doesn’t have to do this.”

“He’s literally paid to do this,” Hux pointed out, but Kylo had moved on; he was pulling his phone from his pocket. It was an ancient thing, the screen cracked to shit, but it did actually light up when Kylo fiddled with it.

“What’s your number?”

“I’m sorry?” Hux raised his brows. 

Kylo scowled.“Your number. Phone number? If I have any questions about your degree.”

Hux paused for a moment, very tempted to leave without giving Kylo shit. He was only planning on googling the information about Kylo’s degree, after all. But…he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to have some real insight.

“Give me your phone.” Hux held out his hand. “I’ll put it in, and then you can text me.”

Kylo handed his phone over after just a moment, and Hux battled with the cracked screen and lowered brightness for a good minute or two before he was able to put his number into Kylo’s contacts. At least, he  _ thought _ it was his contacts. He only had about three, but in the darkness Hux just couldn’t make out what they were. 

He tried to peer closer, but before he could, Kylo pulled the phone from his hand and shoved it away into his pocket. He was shuffling his feet, looking like he had something to ask.

Hux waited for a moment. “Is there something else?”

Kylo avoided Hux’s eyes. “re you going out tonight?”

Hux frowned. “Going out?”

“Yeah, it’s…the Big Night Out. The freshers’ event,”

Hux frowned. “Isn’t that hall-specific?”

Kylo nodded quickly, and made a face. “It’s for the Montefort halls. But…can you not come?”

Hux felt like he’d been spun three hundred and sixty degrees.hat the fuck was happening? Kylo seemed pissed at him, didn’t entirely like how he was acting towards Snoke, and yet he was…asking him out to a freshers’ event?

“You know, the whole point of freshers’ events is to get people to met with people in their flats,” Hux pointed out. Kylo absolutely had to have people in his halls who were going. Hux remembered doing the same, of course; it had only been a year ago. He’d enjoyed the experience a suitable amount, but he would admit he was much more focused on his studies than going out and getting hammered every single night. Engineers and the like really just couldn’t afford to do it.

Kylo made a face. “I don’t really…know anyone from my flat. They all think…”

“That you’re weird?” Hux raised his brows, a sarcastic smile spreading across his face. “Who would have thought that?”

Kylo scowled at that, and began to shove past Hux. “Never fucking mind, then. We’re going to have to spend the whole year together, so I thought we might as well get along, but fuck me for trying.”

He was almost out of the door before Hux had a realisation. He followed Kylo out, grabbing him by the shoulder. “Okay, I get it, I’m a prick,” he huffed, folding his arms over his chest. “Do the event tonight, it’ll help with your flat. I can guarantee once you’ve had some drinks together you’ll be much more comfortable. Barring that, there’s an engineering social in a couple of days. They let you bring whoever, as long as someone in the group is an engineer.” Hux waved a hand. “It’s something, I suppose. Interested?”

Kylo seemed to perk up at that, and nodded mutely at Hux.

“Well, then. I’ll text you the details. We’re starting at the union and then going bar- hopping. Bring cash, these places are dreadful about card.” Hux turned for a moment before quickly looking back around. “And don’t forget your fucking ID.”


	2. about to drink this vodka down the hatch

Socials at the union bar were always tightly-packed affairs. . People were sat at tables, leaning against tables, pushed all the way up to the walls. Getting from the bar to anywhere else  was a five-minute jostle through a throng of people holding precariously filled cups of beer and cider, doing your utmost to avoid having half of one spilt down your shirt. 

These socials were a nightmare that Hux had never bothered with in his first year, but one that he was slowly growing more accustomed to now. He’d just finished grabbing his own drink and settling back down with a few people when he saw someone large with dark hair shuffling through the doorway. “Shit,” Hux muttered, glancing over to the rest of the people he was sat with. “Right. This is the one who I share Snoke with. We’re getting him hammered tonight.”

Thanisson looked past Hux,  saw Kylo, and made a face. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t got the fifty quid it would take to put him under.”

“Hux, you said we wouldn’t even need to buy that many drinks. Fucking look at him.” Unamo gestured to Kylo, taking a sip of her cider. “He’s built like a brick shithouse.”

Hux rolled his eyes and looked up, waving at Kylo to come over before sinking back down into the group, the sound of the social and the music loud enough to cover what they were saying for the time being. “He’s American, and eighteen. He’ll only need a few shots and he’ll be on the floor.”

Mitaka fiddled with his glass. “Hux, are we going to just…leave him somewhere when he does?”

“Look, I might be an evil mastermind, but I’m not an arsehole. I’ll make sure he gets back to his flat and doesn’t die. I just don’t want him to be functioning at  _ all  _ tomorrow.” Hux shrugged, sipping his rum and Coke with a grin. “He’s a fresher. It’s practically tradition.”

It took him a while, but soon Kylo was sliding into an empty seat next to Hux. He was briefly worried about his master plan the moment he did so. Kylo really was…big. His shoulders were so large that in order to fit into their booth, he had to press right up against Hux’s body, his arm against Hux’s shoulders. He felt warm, and he also felt remarkably solid, betrayed by the weird, black, almost shapeless hoodie that he was wearing. Come to think of it, Hux hadn’t seen his arms at all until this moment. He’d just looked large, and now he  _ felt _ large as well. Hux took a mouthful of his drink to stop having such thoughts, pushing the other glass over in Kylo’s direction.

“Glad you could make it. Rum and Coke?”

Kylo looked down at it, seemingly surprised that anyone would buy him a drink, before muttering a thanks and picking it up. His first sip made him pause, and almost cough once he drank it.

Hux demurely looked over. “Oh, that’s a double. And Unamo here probably added some vodka.”

Unamo shrugged and adjusted her tiny bag, which clearly had a good-sized bottle somehow crammed inside. “We’ll have to use it here. Quin’s won’t let me in at the door with this shit.”

“Quin’s?” Hux heard Kylo ask. Thanisson grinned over at him.

“Harlequin’s. We are lucky enough here at Redhamptonto have the worst club in the whole of the UK.”

Kylo frowned beside him, his face scrunching up in confusion. “Why aren’t we going to a good club? I heard Waves is good.”

Hux joined in the laughter this time before shaking his head and explaining: “Waves is expensive. You only go there when you’re dressed up, like that lot over there.” He pointed to a mixed group of people, all looking like they’d spent several hours in front of the mirror with nice outfits and clean hair, the smell of too much perfume and aftershave wafting over the crowd. It did something to cover the smell of stale beer and fag smoke, anyway.

“They’re NurseSoc, anyway,” Thanisson shrugged. “They have the engineering and nurse social nights on the same night, because engineering has too many guys, and nurses…” He laughed. “I mean, it’s fine, they’re not really a BSc but if they want to call themselves that — ”

Thannison yelped as Unamo kicked him in the shin and glared at him. “Can you not be a cunt for one night of the fucking week? We get it, aero is the best degree you can do here after physics, because maths and dicks rule the world.”

“Maths and dicks rule the world? Sounds like a fucking nightmare,” a voice said off to the side, and Hux smiled as he looked up and saw Phasma settle down next to Kylo, making them all squish up even more into the booth. Phasma was almost as broad as Kylo, and Hux was terribly pleased to see her for that one specific reason. “What’s Thanisson done now?”

Unamo shrugged. “Harping on about which degree is best, again.”

“Hope you’re not saying any shit about BAs now, Thannison. We’ve got one here tonight,” Phasma leaned over and gripped at Kylo’s shoulder. “Because Hux definitely hasn’t done it already, this is Kylo. He does art history, and he’s Hux’s new tutor partner.”

Kylo seemed surprised Phasma knew who he was, shooting a look over at Hux as he took another drink. It was probably clear he’d already bitched about him to Phasma anyway, and Hux was going to cling to plausible deniability for as long as he could. (Not that he’d said anything he wouldn’t say to Kylo’s face, once he got drunk enough.)

“Hux here has told me so much about you already, Kylo,” Phasma grinned, causing Kylo to shift uncomfortably in his seat. “All bad, don’t worry. So, how long are we actually going to spend here until we finally get on to Quin’s?”

“As little as possible.” Unamo took a deep drink from her glass before setting it down again, all while attempting to maintain her lipstick. “It’s almost ten, so things should be starting over there. We’re not getting there at nine again, that was a fucking nightmare.”

“Yeah,  _ he _ didn’t mind it,” Phasma laughed as she nudged Mitaka. “You were too fucking pissed from all of that Sex on the Beach.”

Kylo seemed to physically jolt at that, coughing on his drink. Hux resisted the urge to laugh at him, and instead let himself pat Kylo on the back and give him a strained smile. “Sex on the Beach as in the cocktail, Kylo. Mitaka had a few pitchers of it,”

Kylo paused at that, looking over at Mitaka. “Pitchers?”

“Well…yeah, now I think about it, it was a bad idea,” Mitaka mumbled, adjusting his collar. “They taste good. And they’re cheap.”

“Yeah, but…what do you mean by a pitcher?” Kylo’s gaze cast around at everyone. “Do you get…like, a jug? A jug of cocktail?”

There were a few glances, and Phasma eventually nodded, slowly. “Yes.”

Kylo just stared, and Hux glanced around for a moment before he pointed. “Look. Like that one over there.”

Sure enough, someone was dancing through the crowd with a large plastic jug, the blue of the drink so bright that it looked almost radioactive. Kylo stared after it, and then laughed and nodded, looking back at the group. “Oh, right. So you share one of those.”

Another beat, and this time Thanisson was the one to laugh, shaking his head. “Well, fuck. You’ve really never had a pitcher, Kylo?”

Kylo shook his head and gave another frown. Phasma just sighed and sipped her drink before gesturing to him. “Kylo, get used to the fact that most students here are borderline alcoholics. A pitcher is usually for one person. It only costs a few quid more than an actual cocktail: really, it’s just economics.”

“Who wants to spend all their money on fancy drinks anyway?” Unamo said, looking at Hux. He just snorted in response. What he did with his money was his own damned business. And if he wanted to get top-shelf gin for when he was having a nice drink, why wouldn’t he?

“But when are we leaving?” Unamo looked about, and Thanisson shrugged: “Now.”

“Now,” Mitaka echoed, and Phasma grinned as she looked around.

“Last to finish buys a round,” she had barely said before her drink was at her lips and she was tipping it down her throat. Hux knew her well enough to grab his own and start finishing it straightaway, with Unamo shouting some kind of curse before she too joined in. Hux saw Kylo quickly lift his own drink up to his lips, but it was all in vain: Phasma finished first, of course. 

Hux and Thanisson slammed their cups down as Mitaka gasped for air, Unamo finishing hers just before him. And then there was Kylo, a good thirty seconds after the lot of them, slamming his drink down and hiccoughing almost immediately afterwards. Hux grinned. This was going to be  _ fun _ .

Harlequin’s was an absolute shithole to anyone who wasn’t a student. The stairs down from the main street were narrow and steep, meaning only one person could get down at a time, and even that  required a great deal of concentration. It wasn’t unheard of for people to crash down them and have to jump right back up to get out of the way of the slew of people that were slowly making their way down into its depths. The club was dark, dingy, and, in most students’ opinion, the best place in the entire city for a night out.

It had been freezing outside, but now they were descending Hux was beginning to feel better already. The heat from the club was surging up in waves, warming him through his thin shirt as he handed over a fiver and continued down the stairs. He’d had enough to drink to know that he was drunk, but still retained a sense of up and down. Kylo, on the other hand…

Hux got down the stairs first, only to turn and see Kylo with both arms pressed to the walls of the stairs, trying to balance but tripping on the last step and barrelling into Hux, a stupid grin on his face. He was so big that, for a brief moment, Hux thought Kylo might crush him to death, until he saw the glow of the lights around them and felt Kylo’s breath on his neck. Hux pushed his chest with both hands and Kylo swayed and pulled away.

“Ah, shit; sorry, Huxy,” he laughed and straightened himself back up, turning his head. “Is this a basement?” Hux could just about hear him over the music, already so loud he could feel it thumping in his chest and stomach.

“Yes, Ren, it’s a basement,” Hux huffed, too drunk to be too irritated. He could already see the slick spill of drinks on the floor, and the ceilings were so low in this section that he thought Kylo might actually have to duck down. There was the bar, all gaudy and bright to lure students with the promise of cheap shots and cheaper cocktails. It was already heaving, but Hux wanted to get another few drinks into Kylo before leaving him alone for the night. He glanced back, seeing Phasma and the rest of the group coming, and signalled to the bar before grabbing Kylo’s arm. “Come on. You’ve not had a Juicy Lucy before,”

“The fuck is a Juicy Lucy?” Kylo slurred, but he followed willingly, his hand coming to Hux’s lower back and curling into his shirt. It was a little strange, but Hux didn’t mind too much. At least it meant he wasn’t going to lose the prick any time soon. 

With a good deal of elbowing and shoving, they made it up to the bar, and Hux grinned as he pulled up Kylo beside him. He was an incredibly effective block to all the other people there, with his broad chest and broader shoulders. If he’d met Kylo tonight…he probably would have tried to pull him. Or maybe if they were at Edge; then he might’ve tried too. He couldn’t be sure of Kylo’s reaction if he’d tried to pull him here.

Hux blinked back to life when he became aware of Kylo looking back at him: a bartender was clearly trying to get his attention. Her huffed and went on to the girl next to him, and Hux shook his head.

“Fuck’s sake,”

“You know, you should have been paying attention to him instead of me,” Kylo laughed, his voice just loud enough to hear over the pounding music. It was even louder here, closer to the dance floor, but with Kylo mere inches away from his ear he could still hear him. Hardly the time for a full-blown conversation, however.

“I’m drunk, what were you expecting?” Hux rolled his eyes, but kept scanning for a bartender. He felt Kylo shrug beside him and crowd in a little closer as someone pushed him from behind.

“Nothing. You’re cute when you’re drunk,”

Hux did a double take. His surprise must have been painfully obvious to Kylo, who blinked owlishly and quickly held up his hands. “Ah, shit, fuck…I….” 

Hux shook his head quickly and waved a hand at Kylo. “You’re in the south of Britain, not Alabama. Don’t worry about it.”

Kylo stared at him for a while as he seemed to compute, and Hux grew impatient rather quickly. “If you’re gay, it’s fine,” he clarified, and Kylo seemed to relax, before looking around anxiously.

“You going to tell anyone?”

“Kylo, half of our fucking group is gay. Thanisson’s pretty much the only straight guy in it.”

Kylo’s lips curled up at that and he laughed, loud and long. “Yeah, with that fucking attitude, I’m not surprised,”

Hux shook his head, turning back to the bartender and snagging him before someone else could, getting a couple of shots and another drink for Kylo.

Three shots were lined up in front of them, and the cocktail slammed down by Kylo’s elbow, spilling a little as the bartender hurried off to get to the next person. Hux lifted one of the shots, pressing it into Kylo’s hand before taking his own. “Cheers.”

Hux was  _ really  _ drunk now. He could feel it in his arms and head, the heavy-light feeling of cotton wool made out of lead filling his brain. The music was pumping, the people around him all dancing to the same beat, everyone so close that it was heat from every angle. Hux lifted his arms in the air and jumped with everyone else, screaming songs and laughing and feeling the world shift underneath his feet and all around him, and someone was grabbing his waist, hands sliding down his stomach and up his chest…

Hux turned, eyeing the person up. They seemed to baulk for a moment when they saw he was a guy, but after a beat there was a tongue in his mouth. Hux wasn’t going to complain. It had been fucking  _ weeks _ since he’d gone out.

He grabbed at the stranger, fingers sliding through their hair and tugging at the back of their shirt. They weren’t a great kisser, but they weren’t bad either. They even tasted vaguely of mint, something that Hux was always grateful for.

Hands skittered up the back of his shirt and his bare back – which Hux knew was damp – and pulled him in a little more, the people jostling around them becoming nothing but background noise.Hux could hear Phasma yelling and cheering and couldn’t help but grin as he went for it. She’d remind him about it tomorrow morning, of course.

Hux kissed and kissed until he felt he was dying for air and broke away, panting and looking up at the person he’d just snogged. Oh  _ shit _ . He was old. Older than the rest of the fucking students around here. Easily mid-thirties and looking like he’d just come from his job as a fucking estate agent or some shit. He grinned down woozily at Hux and tried to swoop back in, only for Hux to feign a trip and dance out of the way, waving his hand at the man as he tried to get away. Hux turned at the last moment to see all of his friends, and as he did saw Kylo, motionless, staring at him like he’d just grown an extra head.

Fucking  _ shit _ . Hux groaned to himself before making some kind of gesture, heading away from the packed dance floor and off towards the outside area. Quin’s really was a basement, after all, but there was still something that vaguely resembled an outside. There were concrete walls all around it, and the yellowing industrial lights gave it a weird, orangey glow. The smokers were going to town, smoke curling around the area, and Hux sank down on the nearest bench for a moment, rubbing both hands through his hair. Ugh. His mouth tasted weird.

“You…like older guys, then?”

“Shit.” Hux jerked his head up as quickly as he could, which must have been rather slow;he felt like he was moving through water. Was that Phasma? No, shit. Kylo. “The fuck do you want?” Hux muttered, rubbing his face with his hand.

“You like older guys?” Kylo swayed and slumped next to Hux. He could feel his body-heat radiating off of him through the thin material of his shirt.

“No.” Hux made another disgusted sound and shook his head. “I didn’t fucking…I didn’t see his face properly, all right? Just don’t fucking talk about it.”

“You started it with him.”

“Are you trying to fucking say something?” Hux snapped, even as he too wobbled, in  very real danger of toppling off of the bench. “Fuck you, Kylo. I can do what I fucking want.”

Kylo actually laughed at that, and shook his head. “Yeah, I’m not. I just…I didn’t think you were gay.”

Hux rolled his eyes, shooting Kylo a glare. “Are you fucking serious? I just fucking said half our group isn’t straight. Did you really think I was in that lot?”

“I…” Kylo stared at Hux, seeming confused for a moment before sighing. “Right. Okay. You’re just so…British.”

“Yes, because how posh someone is determines whether they like a dick in the arse or not,” Hux scoffed. He shoved a hand into his pocket before leaning over to a huddle of smokers. “Any of you got a cig?”

When he leaned back around to Kylo, he pulled the lighter from his pocket, catching it with his thumb with the cigarette clamped between his lips. Kylo stared at him, seemingly mesmerised by the sight of the end of the cigarette turning bright orange. “I didn’t know you smoked, either.”

“A rare occasion.” Hux took a drag. “Phasma got me to quit.”

“I wouldn’t call this quitting.”

“Neither would I.” Hux blew out smoke, watching it join the haze resting just above the tables outside, softening the harsh orange of the lights. “I’m allowed one. She’ll most likely kick my arse tomorrow, but it’s fine. We can’t all be healthy like her.” He could feel Kylo beside him, and when he looked over the other was staring right at him, a kind of dazed expression on his face. “What?”

“Can I try?”

Hux raised a brow, looking at Kylo. First time getting drunk, and first time having a cigarette, it seemed. Hux was only too happy to oblige in all of this. “Only if you don’t fuck it up,” he said, taking a drag before handing it over, watching as Kylo took it in his hands. “Breathe in, then breathe in deeper without it. If you don’t feel it fucking up your lungs, you’re not doing it right.” 

Hux leaned back, a smug smile on his face as Kylo lifted the cigarette and held it to his lips. In mere seconds he was coughing, smoke coming from his nose and mouth, dropping ash onto his jeans. Hux just laughed, and Kylo scowled, glaring at the cigarette through streaming eyes.

“Well. You tried,” Hux laughed, reaching out for the cigarette and plucking it from Kylo’s fingers to return it to his lips. “It’s a bad habit. Don’t pick it up,”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Kylo muttered, coughing and wiping his eyes again, the smoke seeming to have affected him almost as badly as all of the drinking. He was going to feel like  _ shit _ tomorrow. 

Hux found himself staring at Kylo, not even realising until Kylo was looking at him, those dark eyes of his looking even darker in the lighting. Dark and…almost luminous, in their own right. Hux blinked slowly, his lips parting a little. “Were you jealous?”

“Of what?” Kylo said, only to blink himself and glance back to the entrance to the dance floor. “Oh. That. Um…” He rubbed the back of his head. “Surprised me. I didn’t realise that was what people did here.”

Hux leaned back a little, nodding and taking a drag of his cigarette. Kylo had just been surprised. And right now, he knew Hux best out of the entire group. It made sense that he’d tried to find him, really. 

“All right, then.” Hux took a last drag of his cigarette, dropping the butt onto the floor and watching it glow for just a moment before grinding it into the concrete with the heel of his shoe.  “Let’s go.”

Unsurprisingly, Hux felt a little off when he woke up in the morning. His first waking thought was of the bathroom, and with a groan he staggered from his bed and towards the toilet, getting rid of the last few shots that had undoubtedly been sitting in his stomach since three in the morning. Once excised, his cheek pressed against the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, Hux could only groan. He hadn’t exactly outdone himself, thank fuck, but it was clear that he was not going to feel good for the morning.

He heard someone at his door, and a few moments later the sound of keys in the lock. He groaned and just laid there on the floor for as long as he knew he had, eyes closed and self-pity rolling off of him in waves. He only opened his eyes when he felt someone looking down at him, peeking up to find Phasma. She was all dressed, of course, her bag under her shoulder and what looked like a mug in her hand. She could drink the entire rugby team under the table and still come out fine. In that moment, Hux was disgustingly jealous of her, and it must have showed.

“You look like shit,” she said, leaning down and letting a cup of tea clink onto the tiles. “What was that master plan of yours? To get Kylo so fucked that he’ll feel horrible for handing his essay in today? You ended up wrecking him, but also taking out Unamo, Mitaka, Thanisson, _and_ yourself.”

During her speech Hux had started to pull himself up from the bathroom floor, leaning himself up against the wall and taking a sip of the tea. It was good, hot and sweet, and he cradled it in his hands as if it would cure him of everything he was feeling right now.

“But not you,” he rasped, his voice hoarse. He’d sung a lot last night, he remembered that. Then he remembered something else, and pressed his hand to his forehead. “How did that man look?”

Phasma frowned for a moment. “Man?”

“You fucking know. You were cheering.”

“Oh.” Phasma grinned and put a hand on her hip. “Don’t worry, your reputation isn’t entirely in tatters. About a six.”

“About a six? So he was probably a five,” Hux set the tea down to rub his hands over his face and groan even more. “He was pretty old.”

“I’ll trust your judgement. He did seem to have his tongue rather deep down your throat,”

That was almost enough to make Hux retch again, and Phasma laughed before nudging at his foot with her shoe. “There’s toast and eggs downstairs. Be sick again if you need it, finish your tea, and have some food. What time’s your tutorial or whatever?”

Hux lifted his wrist and found his watch, letting out a sigh. “Three hours.”

“That’s practically a whole day right there. You’ll be fine,” Phasma waved a hand, already on her way out the door. “I have a seminar. Don’t die.”

“I’m not going to,” Hux muttered, but did make sure the cup of tea was far away from him when he lurched back up over the toilet.

Despite the start to the morning and how dreadful he had felt then, after the breakfast Phasma had left him, Hux had started to feel more like a human again. He’d been a fresher, he’d most certainly felt worse, and although he made sure to wear sunglasses on his walk up to campus he felt remarkably better than he had done earlier. A tried and tested strategy: a bit of being sick and feeling sorry for oneself in the morning, then a cup of tea, food, and it would be absolutely fine in a few hours. Phasma was the one who had once been sick in a lecture theatre after a particularly rough night, but at least she had managed to get to the bin first. 

Hux made it to Snoke’s office with a good few minutes to spare, his printed essay safely in his bag. He flipped through his phone for a little, only glancing up when he heard someone coming through the door. His lips curled up at first, before he schooled his expression into something that could be considered mildly interested. “Morning.”

When Kylo looked up at him, Hux almost started grinning there and then. He looked  _ dreadful _ . Bloodshot eyes, nine o’clock stubble, his hair looking like a bird’s nest. Absolutely awful.  With a grunt, Kylo dropped his bag on the floor, leaning against the wall and rubbing both hands over his face, moving slowly and clearly trying to not make much noise.

“I said good morning,” Hux hummed, a polite smile forming on his face: at least, he made a half-arsed attempt to make it polite. He knew the reality was that he looked like the cat who had gotten the cream. Kylo half-snarled something in response and waved a hand at him, still pawing at his face.

“Fucking…morning, alright?” he muttered back, glaring up at Hux. “You left me in there. All of you.”

Hux blinked, and laughed lightly. “No, we didn’t. As a matter of fact, Thanisson lives near your halls. He was  _ kind _ enough to walk you over there and actually tuck you in.” His lips spread into a proper grin now. “You were sick on his jeans. I have to admit, it was hilarious getting that message. Apparently you either owe him a new pair, or you need to pay for the dry cleaning.”

Kylo scowled again and shook his head. “You fucking spiked me or some shit.”

Hux’s brow furrowed. “Spiked you? Look at yourself. There’s too much of you _to_ spike.”

Kylo’s face still looked like a storm cloud as his lip pulled back again, but clearly he was only firing on a few cylinders. Probably trying to quell any nausea he felt, and he was most certainly felt it. “I only had a few drinks,” he muttered, picking at his jacket sleeve for a moment while Hux rolled his eyes.

“You drank more than anyone there, Phasma included. You kept trying to buy shots, every fifteen minutes or so. We almost took your card.” Hux sighed, pushing himself off of the wall and adjusting the straps of his bag. “It was your first night out, wasn’t it?”

Kylo was quiet for a moment, even as he shuffled his feet and stared down at his shoelaces.“Yes.”

Hux nodded, and raised a brow. “Was that your first time drinking…ever?”

More silence, before Kylo sighed and gave a reluctant nod. “All right, fine, yes. Happy? It’s not like I got a fucking chance when I was-“

There was the sound of a door opening off to the side, and Hux stood up straighter as he looked towards it. Even Kylo leapt up, straightening his posture as Snoke appeared from the room, giving them both a filthy look. Hux wanted to glare right back at him. They were on time, for fuck’s sake. Hux had just wanted to wait until they were on the hour, and then he was going to knock. But clearly Snoke wasn’t pleased with students loitering around outside of his office.

“If you’re both here, I suppose we had best get on with it,” he muttered as he slinked back into his office. Hux surpassed Kylo before he could even blink, gliding into the office and hearing Kylo mutter a curse behind him.

“Right. Essays?” Snoke held out his hand, and Hux was already there, handing over his neatly printed and stapled pieces of paper and giving a brief, smug look over to Kylo. There were a few moments of fumbling before Kylo pulled a single, slightly battered page from his bag and slid it over. 

Snoke regarded both of them, steepling his fingers together. “Clearly you both ignored a certain part of my instructions,” he said after a moment, shaking his head. “I’m deducting ten percent for the blatant ignorance. Let’s hope the rest of their content is good enough.”  

Hux felt as though the world had dropped from underneath him.. “Ten percent?” It left his lips before he even thought about saying it, and both Snoke and Kylo turned to look at him.

“Is something not right with that, Mr Hux?” Snoke queried, leaning back in his chair.

“I…you haven’t even explained what we ignored.” Hux shifted forwards in his seat, eyes narrowing. “I completed my essay. All you asked for.”

“Then why is it that your tutor companion has produced something of clearly lower quality, when I instructed you to work together?” Snoke raised what might once have been a brow, but now barely even seemed like a strip of skin on his skeletal face.  _ “Una laborantes, _ the pair of you. That was meant to be a key part of the project.” He tapped the pages together and set them on the side of his desk, shaking his head. “Ten percent is conservative, Mr Hux. I ought to have deducted much more. Now of you go.” He waved a hand at them, turning to the monitor on his desk. “I’ll be emailing you another assignment soon. And this one, you’ll submit online. I don’t want to see you again until you’re more capable of working together.”

The glare that Hux shot Kylo most likely would have killed him, if Kylo had even been aware of it. He was too wrecked to do much but nod, and Hux watched him get up from his seat and leave without another word. Hux’s gaze moved between the absent Kylo and Snoke, d an expression of sheer confusion on his face.

“Sir, really, ten percent seems unnecessary…” Hux began as Snoke’s gaze slid across to him. There was something about it that just sat funny with Hux. It wasn’t comfortable, wasn’t pleasant, and most certainly wasn’t welcome.

“Are you the tutor?” Snoke rasped, and Hux blinked.

“I’m sorry?”

“Are you the tutor, Mr Hux?” Snoke tilted his head to the side, folding his hands in front of him. “I saw that you are applying to First Order Incorporated for an internship this summer.”

Hux stared, his lips pressed tightly together.

“I believe that it’s a splinter of Empire Consultants, correct?” Snoke opened a folder of his, flicking through a couple of pages before humming and leaning back. “Ah, it is. Fairly new, at that. With input from such engineers as Edrison Peavy, Moden Canady, as well as…” His thin finger dragged down the page, stopping for a moment: “Brendol Hux himself.”

Hux took in a breath and straightened up to stare at Snoke, his face expressionless for the time being. He had had this kind of battle before. Brendol, after all, was…difficult. Rules and regulations were abundant back at home.

“What are you…trying to imply?” Hux asked carefully, narrowing his eyes just a fraction.

“Nothing at all.” Snoke gave a faint shrug. “It would just be such a shame for you to drop a classification or two. I know they’re highly competitive, and they’re not just accepting students from Redhampton. Even losing out on a few assignments could pose a very real threat for you.” 

Snoke stared at him, and Hux stared right back. So it was going to be like that, was it? He wet his lips, before giving a stiff nod, neatly closing his bag and getting to his feet.

“Yes. It would be unfortunate,” Hux muttered. “I will make sure that this won’t happen again.”

Snoke’s thin lips spread into something that could possibly be construed as a smile. “Excellent. Dismissed,”

Hux couldn’t remember the last time a professor or tutor had actually dismissed him from their presence. He left as quickly as he could without looking like he was fleeing, all but running from the room when he was out of sight of Snoke’s office, eyes darting around the moment he was outside of the building. It had been a few minutes, but Kylo wasn’t hard to find. He was so large and wearing so much black that he stuck out like a sore thumb, and soon Hux was standing in front of him and folding his arms across his chest.

“We need to talk.”

Kylo sighed and rubbed his forehead again. “About what, Hux?”

“Are you deaf? Did you not hear that?!” Hux gestured back towards the building, his brow furrowed. “Fucking ten percent. Ten percent deduction? Who the fuck does that on a tutorial essay?”

“We ignored him, didn’t we?” Kylo shrugged, before giving Hux a look. “You ignored him. I tried to contact you, but you kept ignoring me. Until you wanted to go out, and then suddenly you responded to all of my messages.”

Hux bristled and narrowed his eyes. He  _ had  _ done that. But he had thought that Kylo had simply never written an essay before, and Hux hadn’t been  about to hold his hand and walk through every fucking step with him.

“I didn’t ignore it. I thought he was fucking joking. This is uni, for Christ’s sake. The only people who work together are BAs.”

Kylo narrowed his eyes at Hux for a moment, but the effort seemed to make his headache worse, and his brow went slack. “Look, just fuck off,” Kylo muttered, pushing past Hux. “And we’ll sort it out next time. Don’t worry, I’m sure the other ninety percent of your essay was fucking  _ perfect _ .”

“Stop it.” Hux grabbed at Kylo’s arm. He let out a reluctant breath:. “Listen. I have a lot riding on this year. I need as much as I can get from this:.I want an internship. Or more correctly, I need it. It’s for one of the best companies in the country; even  _ you  _ might have  heard of them at some point. But…” Hux shook his head. “But I can’t risk anything, at this point. I need every single mark, every single percentage. It’s fucking competitive.” 

Hux let go of Kylo’s arm the moment he was sure he wasn’t going anywhere, brushing their hands together. “Because of this, I will…work with you. Properly. But you can  _ not _ fuck this up for me.”He stared at Kylo, who definitely seemed to be thinking it over for a good while. Even in his state he managed to keep himself upright and even use his brain, and after a few minutes Kylo gave a slow nod, pursing his lips.

“Right, well…what do I get out of it?”

Hux rolled his eyes and almost walked away there and then. “What do you get out of it?” You get to have a relatively stress-free first year while I effectively do every single tutor assignment for you. How does that sound?”

Kylo waved his hand at Hux. “No. I need to do some of the work. Snoke will know otherwise; he always knows if it’s not my work.” He gave it a thought for a while, until Hux was all but tapping his foot on the ground waiting for something he could use.“Tell you what,” Kylo suggested, pushing his hands into his pockets. “You’ve got…a group of friends. Who go out, do stuff together. Get me fucking wasted.” He smiled at that, and Hux’s upper lip twitched in frustration. “You didn’t manage to kill me last night, and I have a feeling that was what you were going for. So…I keep coming out with you guys. And maybe now and then you stop trying to give me alcohol poisoning, and we actually have a good time. You know Phasma said she liked me, last night?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Hux snapped, and Kylo raised a brow.

“Are you two…together, then?” He frowned a bit, as if he was trying to imagine that. Hux scowled in response, his eyes lifting to the heavens.  

“No, Christ, we’re friends. Just…if you think she’s going to go for you, you’re wrong.”

“Good thing I have absolutely no interest in going for her, then.” Kylo stared at Hux. “You literally told me last night most of your group were gay. I remembered because you already had a go at me for forgetting it once, all right?”

“Fine, fine. I fucking get it,” Hux said in exasperation, close to throwing his hands in the air and leaving Kylo to his own devices, marks be damned. “Okay. You want friends. And I want my marks. So do we have an arrangement?”

Kylo thrust one hand out between them. His eyes were still bloodshot, his hair still all over the place, but it seemed the outcome of their deal – or ultimatum, as Hux was considering it – had helped him to recover ever so slightly from his hangover. “Deal.”

Hux reached out his own hand, clasping Kylo’s own. It was big, and warm, and just a touch rough. Without warning, Kylo yanked his hand in and Hux with him, planting a kiss to his cheek before recoiling again. Hux felt somewhat as though he’d been shot, but before he could respond Kylo was already leaving, waving over his shoulder  in farewell.

“See you around, Red.”

Hux wiped at his cheek as he glared daggers into Ren’s back. Fucking  _ dick. _


	3. is this allowed?

Hux hadn’t been around halls in a year, and he was already regretting coming back to them. Not that student houses were much better – at least his was, under his and Phasma’s iron rule – but halls had a certain…energy about them. The energy cultivated by a group of eighteen year olds who had never been away from home before and were all intending on doing as many stupid things with their new found freedom as soon as possible. He’d already walked past a captured trolley, a few road signs, and one flat had a traffic cone holding the front door open, a dirtied tea-towel flung over the top. Bencraft still looked like a fucking prison. Hux hadn’t stayed in these particular halls, but anyone who had hadn’t been lying. The white-washed concrete walls, the narrow corridors, the fluorescent lights that gave everything a sickly look. It wasn’t pleasant. But at least it was the middle of the day, so the only students still around were most likely dead asleep from whatever drinking they’d done the following day.

Hux pushed his way through a set of doors, double checking the text that Kylo had sent him before turning down another corridor, sending the other a message as he came up to his flat. It was quiet, for now. Hux waited for just a moment, before he knocked on the door, leaning back and looking down either end of the corridor. No one was stirring. The door clicked open, and Hux looked in, ready to scowl at Kylo and tell him they really could have worked anywhere else. But instead, there was a girl looking back at him, dark circles under her eyes and her hair in…several strange looking buns. It looked like there was charcoal on her face, and she glared right back out at him. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” Hux replied, narrowing his eyes.

“I asked you first.” The girl said back, catching the door with her foot and folding both arms over her chest. Her sleeves had been pushed up to her elbows, and there were more dark marks smudged all over her forearms as well. Was it charcoal? Or was it grease?

Hux made a face, before sighing. “Does Kylo Ren live here? I’m meant to be working with him.”

The girl raised a brow at that, seemingly taken aback for a moment before looking back and peeking into the flat. “Kylo?” She yelled, the sound making Hux recoil. He  _ hated _ freshers. “Your boyfriend’s here to see you,”

“Are you fucking serious?” Hux snapped, as he heard something lumbering down the corridor.

“Jesus, Rey, he’s not my fucking boyfriend,” Kylo’s voice sounded back, a hand appearing around the door just as Rey let go of it with her foot, disappearing back down the corridor and to her own room at the other end of the flat. Hux looked up at Kylo, already exhausted with the whole thing.

“You have  _ wonderful  _ flatmates,” Hux smiled coldly, as Kylo just rolled his eyes and opened the door enough to let him in, heading back down the opposite end of the corridor, away from where Rey had gone. Hux could see the kitchen right at the end of the corridor, and could smell someone cooking. At least, it might have been cooking. It might have been someone microwaving yesterday’s takeaway, for all he knew. Kylo huffed, bare feet padding back along the carpet.

“Rey’s always mean when you interrupt her work. She’s trying to build this thing for her glass, it’s all metal and-“

“I’m not interested.” Hux said back, catching the look Kylo gave him when he said it. “It really doesn’t matter. I’m here to work on the essay, and then we can go back to doing whatever else we need to do for our respective degrees.”

“Fine, fine. I fucking get it.” Kylo rolled his eyes, leading them to a room and pushing the door open. It was…simple. Black. Lots of black. Black sheets and duvet cover on the bed shoved up against the wall, black posters on the walls, black laptop with some red accents on the desk. Hux raised a brow at a few of them, depicting all kinds of bands that were wearing a lot of eyeliner. Thankfully it was clean, if untidy, and Kylo muttered to himself as he shook out his duvet and swept a few things off of the desk in the far corner. Hux took the opportunity to glance around, and stopped when he saw something sticking out of the wardrobe. “Is that a fucking sword?”

Kylo paused, looking back at Hux for a moment. “What of it?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed a fucking sword here.” Hux folded his arms over his chest, and Kylo glared at him.

“I’m not allowed if people know it’s there.” Kylo leaned over to the wardrobe and purposefully shut the door, the handle and scabbard disappearing from Hux’s sight. “Are you going to be  _ even _ more of a dick, or are we going to get this shit done?”

Hux narrowed his eyes for a moment, as if he was definitely considering it, before giving up and sliding his bag down onto bed and beginning to pull things out of it.

“You would have been the worst fucking RA,” Kylo muttered, but Hux had no idea what he was going on about, so he promptly ignored it and brought out his own laptop, looking around for a moment. Kylo sighed, moving away from the desk and taking his laptop with him. “You can sit here. I’ll sit on the bed.”

“And ruin your posture in the process,” Hux pointed out, even if he breezed past Kylo and set his laptop down, sitting at the desk as Kylo moved over towards the bed, sinking down and starting to pull out some notes.

“So, uh…what are we even supposed to do?”

Hux put a hand to his forehead. This was going to be a long afternoon.

“Okay, so we have a bit more about that. Have you referenced it as well?” Hux glanced up from his laptop and the twenty tabs he currently had open, rubbing a hand over his forehead and through his hair. His jacket had come off almost two hours ago, and he’d undone the top two buttons of his shirt as he stared at Kylo. He’d spread himself out over the bed, alternating between actually typing and hanging off the edge of the bed looking like he was half-dead. He was still looking like that now, his hair almost touching the floor as he groaned into the sheets.

“Why the fuck did I agree to work with you?”

“Because Snoke told us we needed to, and like a fool you thought that I was going to approach this like a BA.” Hux rolled his eyes, taking a pen from Kylo’s desk and chucking it at him. Amazingly, it squarely hit Kylo in the back of the head, causing him to jolt back up and give Hux a look and a muttered curse, before he dragged his laptop back over to him and started to type again. “Fine. Okay. I haven’t referenced it yet. Do I use that thing you downloaded to reference?”

“Yes. Click on it, and use the article from-“

_ “Oh yes.” _

Hux stopped mid-sentence and stared at Kylo for a moment, confusion clear across his face. Kylo himself froze, his eyes flicking up to the wall before he squeezed them shut, rubbing a hand through his hair. “Oh…shit.” He muttered, his voice quieter as he looked up at Hux. “That, uh…wasn’t me.”

“Oh, really? The high, breathy, very female sounding voice wasn’t yours?” Hux said back, his eyes now glancing towards Kylo’s laptop. It hadn’t  _ sounded _ like it had come from there, and if it had it would have sounded much more fake, and probably tinnier. Instead, that voice had just been muffled. As if it was coming from the room next door.

“Kylo.” Hux couldn’t help but smirk, leaning back in the chair and looking at him. “Do you have a couple next door?”

Kylo rolled his eyes and pushed his hair out of his face. “No. Yes? They’re not a real couple, they just…sleep together. A lot.” He seemed to have a faint hint of red on his cheeks, and Hux smirked to himself. He’d been lucky first year and hadn’t experienced such a thing. Phasma had, and yet of course she had ended up joining the other two, just because she seemed to have such luck with those kinds of things. Hux was about to comment again, before the sounds of squeaking bed-springs became audible from the next room. It was  _ hilarious _ . At least, Hux seemed to think so. Kylo was shifting uncomfortably on the bed, starting to become a lot more interested in his laptop all of a sudden.

“Yes, oh…fuck,” sounded from next door, and Hux put a hand over his mouth to stop a burst of laughter.

“How long has this been going on for?” He asked, glancing back towards Kylo. The flush on his face had become  

“A few weeks.” He muttered, shaking his head. “They’re just…really loud, for no reason.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s a good reason for it,” Hux laughed, as a thudding sound began to start, undoubtedly the headboard next door. He stared from Kylo to the wall, raising his brows. “They’re really going for it, and in the middle of the day no less.”

“They really don’t give a shit,” Kylo muttered, this time pressing both hands over his face and groaning softly. “Could we just go somewhere else? Please? Rey’s shit should be out of the kitchen by now, it’s really not-“

“Oh  _ fuck _ yes, oh fuck, yeah, like that, harder baby, harder…” The voice continued, and Hux grinned as he shook his head. It was  _ loud _ . Really fucking loud. And Hux could have sworn that the wall was starting to shake a little next to Kylo’s bed. Kylo, who couldn’t have looked more mortified if he could have tried.

“You think they’ll stop soon?” Hux hummed, only to hear a smack from the other room. His head snapped over to the wall, his eyes wide for just a moment.

_ “Oh, daddy,” _

Hux’s face slowly split into a grin, his gaze returning to Kylo as he looked at him. “…oh my,”

“Please just shut the fuck up,” Kylo groaned, his face entirely hidden away in his hands now.

Hux was just about to open his mouth for another comment as a poster jolted and fell off of Kylo’s wall, floating down over to him, the wall almost quivering by now. Hux stared, the sounds getting louder and louder until  _ finally _ , they fell silent. He could almost hear heaving breathing, and Hux stared at Kylo with a bemused smile on his face.

“That was hilarious.”

Kylo groaned and rubbed at his face, looking to Hux and quickly back at the poster, moving to stick it back up on the wall. “Yeah, right. Imagine having that every fucking day. Or twice a day. They’re fucking…” He made a frustrated sound and waved his hand, trying to look back at the laptop. “It’s a fucking pain. I just want to work, alright? And I can’t when they’re doing that the whole time.”

Hux thought for a moment, glancing between the wall and Kylo, now acting very focused on the laptop in front of him. “Well…” He began, Kylo lifting his eyes over the top of his laptop. “I suppose…my house is rather close to campus.” Hux shrugged, sitting up a little in the chair. “If this is really bad and you wanted somewhere to work that wasn’t the library, I suppose that we could work at mine. Honestly, I don’t know why you didn’t suggest it first.”

Kylo made a face, shifting a bit on the bed as he seemed to think about it. “I don’t know. Isn’t it meant to be polite to offer your place first?”

Hux laughed. “Look, if it was this bad, I’d take any chance to run. So yes. We can go to mine instead, after this. It’s reasonably quiet, everyone’s over the honeymoon phase so there’s very little sex…” he paused, looking at Kylo and wonderful why he was doing this. He wasn’t the one who invited people into their group. He was happy with their group. He liked the number of people, he somewhat liked most of the people. And yet he was willingly bringing this American mess into it?

But Kylo looked so…pleased. The awkwardness had shifted a little from his shoulders, and he looked happier about it already. Clearly it wasn’t pleasant for him to live somewhere like this where he could be disturbed every five fucking minutes with the animals next door going at it. Hux sighed and pushed a strand of hair back from his forehead. “I really don’t know why I offered. But the offer is there, for next time. We’re probably going to finish this essay today, after all.”

Kylo smiled at him, something small and soft that Hux just about remembered seeing before, wreathed in yellow light and cigarette smoke.

“Yeah. I think I’d like that.”


	4. look at...these frickin bats. i love halloween.

In Hux’s mind, the weird projects that Kylo and him had been given were going rather well. So far, Snoke seemed content that they were working together, even if it meant that a large chunk of Hux’s time was going towards what was, effectively, a useless piece of work. He fit it in amongst the hundred other things he had to do, and yet at the same time found himself looking forward to his catch ups with Kylo. It happened predominately at his house now – given the situation with Kylo’s dorms and the fact that a cup of coffee was about five pounds – where he would sit with Kylo and work. Or at least, try to work.

The projects would always be finished by the end of the day, but Hux would be lying if they were entirely focused. Sometimes Phasma would drop in and the conversation would take a turn, or Thannison would say something so horrifically stupid that Kylo and Hux would have to stop just to roll their eyes at each other over their laptop screens. Sometimes they had a drink, too, finishing the projects late at night when their screens started to get a little fuzzy around the edges, and Hux would find himself looking at Kylo, and find Kylo staring right back at him. It was…strange. But not entirely unwelcome. If anything, working on an essay or two when the rest of his work involved pages upon pages of equations was quite nice. A chance to do something else, and with someone else, who didn’t care about wind resistance or metal density.

It also meant that Kylo got invited to every single event that Hux or Phasma even considered. It came up in conversation while Phasma was watching Unamo stick up some jelly stickers on the kitchen windows of pumpkins, somehow managing to make each and every one of them look more deformed than the one before. A few bats went up too, and Unamo sat down with a pumpkin in front of her just as Phasma pulled out a knife, looking as though she was born to be on the cover of some slasher film.

“So, slutty witch for me. Thannison said something about being a student loan, which is pretty old. Mitaka is considering a bat, which is so uninspired I think I’ll have to kill him.” Unamo huffed, pulling out a pen and holding out a hand to Phasma. “Hang on, you can disembowel once I’ve got a design on it. And you still haven’t told me what you’re going to be,”

“Come on, there aren’t even that many of us coming. I could really wear whatever and it wouldn’t matter,” Phasma huffed, the tip of the knife pressed into the cutting board she’d set out as she eyed the pumpkin. “I could wear that silver dress I got a while back. You like that,”

“And I want everyone to fucking dress up for once. We’re still going to get hammered, but we didn’t last year, and it’s been ages since we’ve had a party that’s had more than two minutes of planning.” Unamo began sketching, occasionally referring to her phone before glancing up towards Hux and Kylo. “Yeah. You two have no choice. You’re coming  _ and  _ dressing up. I know Hux won’t bring a plus one because everyone in this room is his plus one choice, so…Kylo? You got anyone?”

Kylo thought for a moment, his fingers hovering over his keyboard as he seemed to think for a bit, before shrugging. “I mean…I’ve got a couple of people in my flat, I guess. Rey has been talking about dressing up properly, and she’s got her two friends. Ones an undergrad, ones a postgrad, but they seem pretty nice, all things considered.”

“Okay, three more people. That’s fine. Phasma’s bringing half her fucking course at the sounds of it, so that should be enough,” Unamo nodded, her gaze sliding over to Hux. “What are you going to dress up as?”

“Really?” Hux raised a brow, but didn’t look away from his screen, still typing away as he spoke. It was a talent he’d mastered living with people who wanted to know everything he was doing right while he was trying to work. “I will be dressing up as myself.”

“See?” Phasma lifted the knife and gestured to Hux with it, the glint of metal enough to make him give her the briefest of sideways glances before returning to the essay.

“You’re not fucking getting out of this,” Unamo said, glaring at the two of them. “Come on. It’s fucking Halloween. There is literally no other time in the year that we get to dress up and get pissed. And the dressing up is the actual fun part.”

“It is,” Kylo said, nodding and giving her a brief smile. “Halloween’s big where I’m from. We were kind of in the country, but we still got enough trick or treaters. Made our house look like the one from Chainsaw Massacre and everything.”

Unamo definitely perked up at that, and held a hand out towards Kylo. “See? The one thing Americans can’t fuck up is Halloween. They’ve got it down. It’s better than here and stingy adults who just shut the front doors and pretend not to be in so they don’t get egged.”

“Because we’re all very boring here in the UK,” Hux huffed, rolling his eyes and scrolling down his document, before pausing and looking over at her. “If we dressed up, and this is an  _ if _ , what would we even do that isn’t tacky and horrible?”

“You’re talking to the slutty witch here, there really isn’t a lot,” Unamo said as she shook her head, drawing another few lines onto the front of the pumpkin. “We’ll talk Mitaka out of the bat. Until then…”

“I’ll do the wolfman, or something.” Kylo offered, and everyone glanced over at him. He looked back, before a grin appeared on his face and he leaned back in his chair. “I did it a few years ago. Just need a mask, some of those weird nail things…and liquid latex. That shit is the best.”

Everyone stared for a moment, before Phasma gave a considering nod. “Okay. I have to have some liquid latex stuff too, or I’m out. Something really fucking gory. But I’m still going to wear that dress, it’s too nice.”

“I could make it look like your eye has been gouged out?” Kylo offered, and Hux stared at him in sheer confusion.

“How the fuck do you know how to do that?”

“Online tutorials. It’s pretty easy,” Kylo smiled over at Hux, leaning over his laptop screen. “I could make it look like you’ve got a Chelsea smile.  You know, when someone cuts the side of your face and when you scream it makes it wider…”

Unamo beamed, looking between Kylo and Hux. “I didn’t know you liked horror so much, Kylo.”

He smiled back, settling into his chair with his chest puffed out a bit. Hux had to try not to roll his eyes, and if Kylo had been straight he probably would have kicked him under the table for good measure.

“When you live in a weird house in the woods, you kind of either embrace it or get terrified by every creak. My dad always let me watch horror flicks in the tv in his garage, until he once made me cry and my mom stopped me from watching them anymore,” he smiled, only for his face to fall for a moment. Hux watched him curiously. He really didn’t know that much about Kylo’s life outside of…anything, really. He knew about him here, what he liked, what he didn’t like, how he was finding the UK in general. But anything before that, that he hadn’t gleaned from that brief glance at his CV that time…he hadn’t a fucking clue.

Unamo was just grinning, and Phasma cocked her head, staring right over at Kylo. He seemed to rethink everything in a second, before laughing and rubbing the back of his head. “Parents, yeah? But I can do all of that. The liquid latex stuff. We’d have to be careful, if your dress is expensive, Phasma. Once that shit is on fabric it’s difficult to get off.”

“I’ll make it work,” Phasma nodded, looking to Hux. “So what are you going to do? That Chelsea smile thing sounds fucking cool.”

“It sounds like a fucking mess, especially if I’m drinking all night.” Hux huffed, tapping away on his laptop keyboard before he sighed. “What if I did…I don’t know. A vampire?”

Phasma laughed with Unamo, and Kylo just grinned. “Yeah. You fit a vampire just right.”

“Why?” Hux scowled, looking between them all.

“You don’t sleep, you’re pale as fuck, your hair is always scraped back along your scalp…” Phasma grinned, as Hux scowled. “You really don’t eat that much, you’re always brooding and looking like you could kill someone…it’s perfect, really.” Phasma grinned over at Hux, still playing with the knife. “Who’d know if you hadn’t charmed Kylo or some shit so you’d have a human blood bag? You two have spent an awful lot of time together recently…”

“Oh piss off,” Hux said with a sour expression, quickly shaking his head. So what if Kylo slept over most nights. It wasn’t like they shared the bed or anything. He had his mattress on the floor. He had his toiletries in Hux’s bathroom. He just…was there a lot. “It’s not my doing that his flatmates are weird,”

“I feel like we’d know if Hux had been going to town on Kylo,” Unamo hummed, tilting her head a little as she looked over at Kylo. “You always wear t-shirts and stuff, so we’d probably see your neck quite easily.”

“I would like to clarify just for one moment that vampires aren’t fucking real.” Hux said, hands coming to land in front of him with a thud, essay forgotten for the time being. “You are so distracting. You know Kylo and I come here on Wednesdays to fucking work, but you had to do your decorations and shit now, didn’t you?”

Unamo grinned at him, setting down the pen and passing the pumpkin off to Phasma, who jammed the knife straight into the top and began hacking away. “So your room too distracting for the two of you? Oh Hux, if only I had known…”

Hux scowled and gave her the finger, looking briefly over at Kylo who had an amused look on his face, just watching it all happen before nodding, and looking down at his screen for a moment. “I think I’ve just found you the perfect outfit, too,” he grinned, and turned his laptop over to them all.

Hux sagged with a groan, just as Phasma and Unamo smiled at each other.

It was the worst vampire costume ever. Not even one of the modern vampires that Hux could have gotten away with from pulling a few shirts from his wardrobe. This outfit had a cape. Some kind of cravat. It wasn’t the best material, either, and when Hux had wormed into it he’d briefly been worried that he couldn’t get out. It was actually  _ tight _ . The trousers were obscene, the material hugging to everything that he really didn’t want to show most of the time, and it somehow managed to make him look even skinnier than he was. The cape was the only saving grace, broad enough in the shoulders that it made him look relatively proportioned.

It was all Kylo’s fault. He’d offered to buy the damn thing, so of course in a matter of hours there was a jar on the counter for ‘Hux’s Halloween Fund’. Phasma put in ten pounds straight away, and before Hux knew it the damn package was on his bed waiting for him. Putting it on was the only way he was going to escape Unamo’s wrath, so there he was, standing in front of the mirror with the stupid thing on. It didn’t look…that bad. Slightly uncomfortable, but…still not bad. Hux sighed, adjusting the cape a little bit before he opened his bedroom door, looking out at the chaos that had filled the house. Really, Unamo had done a great job decorating. It was just upstairs, where her and Phasma were dashing about, trying to finish off what they were wearing in time. Of course they stopped the moment they saw Hux, and Phasma just pointed and laughed.

“Fucking  _ look _ at you.”

Hux scowled, turning and feeling the cape flare out behind him. “No. No. I’m fucking changing.”

“Hux for fuck’s sake,” Unamo appeared from behind Phasma, her face half covered in makeup already, a few strange symbols drawn but not quite complete. “Phasma’s being a dick. It looks really good. Like, you actually look like you know how to have fun.”

Hux’s eyes almost rolled into the back of his skull at that, as he put both hands in the air. “No, this is stupid. You all look somewhat normal, I look like the twat that went out and bought a full costume just so I-“

“So what?” Kylo appeared at the top of the stairs, and Hux stared at him. His face looked like it had been mangled, a snarl of bloodied teeth curling up one side of his mouth, fur stuck to his jaw and…coloured contacts? His eyes were blood red, and his serious expression faded the moment he saw Hux, the angry looking snarl turning into a beam. “Holy shit, Hux. That really fucking suits you.”

Hux paused, hands in fists by his sides before he wet his lips, and pushed a strand of hair back from his forehead. It still wasn’t gelled back, and he really needed to finish that before everyone got there.

“See?” Unamo raised her brows at him. “You do. You just need to finish it and then we’re all going to be ready. Come on, people are going to start arriving soon, and I’ve got to hide the sweets before all the students eat them. We might not have trick or treaters, but we’ll see.”

“Yeah, come on,” Kylo climbed up the stairs and stood closer to Hux, a grin on his face. “I’ll help with the last bits. You’ve got to be a bit paler, and I’ve got some eyeliner too. You’re going to look great.”

Hux tried not to stare at Kylo’s bare chest, visible through the torn flannel shirt he had on. It was ridiculous. Why had Kylo gone out and bought himself a fucking shirt, only to tear it up for Halloween? It was even bloodstained, and Hux didn’t want to think about how much of a pain that would be to clean it. If Kylo was even going to bother cleaning it.

“Hux?”

Hux’s gaze snapped up, straight into Kylo’s red eyes. Stupid. “Yes, yes, fine. This collar is so tight it’s probably cutting off circulation to my head,” he muttered, tugging at the cravat before moving back into his room, feeling the cape move behind him again. If he was being honest, he quite liked the feeling of it flaring out behind him. But he would take that to his grave. He moved straight through to his bathroom, looking through his products until he could find his gel. “So, what? You’ve got to paint me or something?” Hux asked, schooling his hair back into its usual style. Kylo appeared in the doorway, leaning against it with a grin.

“Yeah. I’ve got some white powder, and eyeliner. I won’t do much else, because you’re not used to makeup. You’ll just end up smudging it everywhere, and then you’ll look like an absolute wreck.”

“Yes, because I’m sure you’ll look fine when you’re eight pints deep into tonight,” Hux said back, putting the gel down and combing back his hair, before rinsing his hands off in the sink. He looked ridiculous in the mirror. But at least if Kylo was going to do something…at least he’d look comically ridiculous, like the rest of them. Or like Mitaka at the very least. Phasma was going to look incredible, Unamo had an entire fucking Pinterest board for hers, and Kylo…Kylo looked amazing. Like he should have some kind of Instagram dedicated to that kind of thing. Hux turned, finding Kylo staring at him.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Kylo cleared his throat, backing up a little and putting his hands up. “Just…I don’t know. You look so different to how you normally do. It’s throwing me a bit.”

“You mean I don’t always look like I’m ready to murder someone just for looking at me funnily?” Hux hummed, raising his brows. Kylo looked right back at him, and a smile crept onto his face. Hux found that there was a smile on his face too, and he shook his head a little, a brief huff of laughter leaving him. “Come on. I look ridiculous.”

“You actually don’t,” Kylo laughed too, his hands now falling back down to his sides. “You look pretty good, considering where I got the costume from. Once I’ve done all the finishing touches, all I’ll need from you is a shitty Romanian accent, and you’ll be great,”

“Now that’s something I am  _ not  _ doing,” Hux shook his head, even if there was still a hint of a smile on his face. “I will accept eyeliner, and whatever else you’re planning on doing to me. But that’s where it ends.”

Kylo shrugged, taking a few steps back into Hux’s room, starting to fiddle with the stuff he’d brought with him. “That’s fine. I can work with that. And you’re going to look great either way. Those trousers really make your ass look good,”

Hux made some kind of sound from the bathroom, coming into the doorway. “Seriously? How can you even see it with this in the way?” He said, gesturing to the cape, to which was doing a very good job of covering up…everything. Kylo laughed and wiggled his fingers at Hux.

“It’s Halloween. Anything can happen.”

Hux rolled his eyes, moving to stand beside Kylo, peering over his shoulder to try and see what he was doing. He didn’t need to wait long before Kylo was turning around, holding up a pencil and lifting a hand, holding Hux’s chin. He felt his cheeks warm, and Kylo laughed. “You’re a vampire. You’re not meant to blush.”

“I’m not fucking blushing.” Hux muttered, as he blushed, even when Kylo went in with the pencil. The tip was much softer against the skin under his eye than he expected, gliding along and assumingly drawing deep, dark circles under his eyes. Not that he needed them. If only Halloween had taken place after their January exams, then he  _ really  _ would have looked as though he was undead. Hux lifted his gaze at Kylo’s command, as the pencil continued to draw, before the pad of Kylo’s finger began to smudge under his eye. It was…intimate. Hux was more or less the same height as Kylo, with an inch or two discrepancy, but Kylo’s frame was so huge it blocked out most of the light of the room, shrouding him in shadow. Kylo stuck his tongue out as he worked, just the tip, and Hux couldn’t help but half smile at he watched it.

“Eyes up,” Kylo said, and Hux had to reluctantly look back to the ceiling.

“Yes, mother.”

“Ew, gross. Don’t. You sound like the creepy kid from…” Kylo thought, before waving the pencil about a little. “Pretty much any horror film. You could probably get a gig playing the stuck up Brit, who’s either a massive sceptic or is literally Satan.”

“Thank you  _ so  _ much for equating me to Satan,” Hux replied, Kylo’s finger returning to his eye to smudge some more of the eyeliner across it. The pad of his finger was warm, and Hux found he was quite enjoying all of this. He’d never understood why Phasma spent time working on makeup when she would inevietably wear it off by the end of the night, but the process itself was enjoyable. “Besides, that’s American horror films. British horror films tend to have much scarier villains. Like American werewolves, or cults in the countryside.” He laughed, as Kylo snorted and stepped back, looking at Hux’s face for a moment.

“Yeah. That looks good. I don’t really think I need to do any contour shit, either. You’re very…” Kylo gestured with his hands, pencil still between his figners “…angular.”

“Again, another lovely compliment,” Hux turned to look at himself in the mirror, and blinked. Kylo had actually done a good job. Not that Hux thought that something as simple as eyeliner could be fucked up, but he did look suitably…undead. He looked at it for a moment, only to shake his head and glance back at Kylo. “Simple, but effective.”

“I have got one last thing…” Kylo pulled a small tube out of his pocket, stepping up and putting the tip of it against Hux’s lips. Hux blinked and almost took a step back, before something weird and synthetically sweet dripped into the side of his mouth.

“What is this?” He asked, turning his head just to see a dribble of red go down the side of his mouth, stopping just before it fell onto his collar. “Kylo, Christ’s sake, it’s going to go on my fucking carpet,” Hux scowled, trying to wipe it off his face.

“Hux, shit, don’t fucking…just leave it, alright?” Kylo grabbed his hand before he could get rid of it, making him look at the mirror. “Just wait thirty seconds, and then it’ll solidify a bit. Should stay there for the rest of the night. And it tastes good, yeah? It’s mainly golden syrup,”

“Golden syrup isn’t something I thought to have great staying qualities,” Hux pointed out, but sure enough after a few moments, the line of red seemed to solidify against his skin, and he felt it become stiff. At least it wasn’t going to leak everywhere, then. “But let me  clarify, that if I really was a vampire, I wouldn’t be this messy,”

“Sure,” Kylo laughed, shaking his head. “You’re actually getting the hang of this, you know.”

“The hang of what?” Hux turned his head to look at Kylo, a curious tilt to his head. Dressing up? Making a tit of himself for a stupid party?

“Having fun,” Kylo flashed him a smile, both friendly and creepy with the extra teeth running up his cheek. Hux was thrown for just a moment, before he shook his head with a smile.

“You’re full of shit.”

“I know.” Kylo capped the small bottle of red and shoved it back into his pocket along with the pencil, heading off towards the closed door. “Don’t be much longer. Unamo’s probably ready, and you’ll get shit if you don’t show everyone the finished product before people start arriving,”

Hux found himself smiling as Kylo left his room, his tongue dipping to the side of his mouth again to taste the sweetness of the fake blood, before shaking his head and following suit. May as well get it over with.

 

\----------------------------------------------

 

Hux genuinely hadn’t expected everyone to get so involved in the costume aspect. Last year they’d all been freshers, and now he was surrounded by drunk people who had all put a remarkable effort into their costumes. A few people had gone in the same direction as Kylo, with gruesome wounds and effects covering their faces, with a few more classic witches, zombies, and serial killers amongst the rest. It was weirdly enjoyable. Hux recognized most of the faces walking around from his post in the kitchen, a drink up to his lips.

Unamo had also done a rather incredible job with the decorations, too. The living room and kitchen were full of people, yet he could still see all the lights she’d strewn up along the walls and the banister, a few banners with ‘Halloween’ in big letters. The lights gave of a nice soft glow, accompanied by the overhead lights that she’d covered in crepe paper. Hux just hoped they wouldn’t set on fire at some point during the night. They might. And he definitely didn’t want to have to deal with that on top of twenty or so drunk students.

Kylo’s flatmates had actually shown up, with the Rey girl from before in some [costume]

“Hux,” Kylo grinned, waving him down from where he was talking with them all. Hux acquiesced, coming over with his drink in hand and giving everyone a once over. Rey gave him a look too, and Hux could accept that they probably weren’t ever going to get along. “Rey’s come, she brought Finn and some other guy. He’s getting drinks right now,”

“And the plus one rule was ignored once again,” Hux rolled his eyes as he took a drink, Rey’s hand going to her hip.

“Yeah right, like that ever gets held up. Besides, I figured Kylo can’t have that many friends, so I brought one more. He’s a post-grad, he doesn’t get to do a lot of this kind of thing,” Rey huffed, and Kylo scowled at her.

“Are you kidding me? I have friends.”

“I can confirm, Kylo has wormed his way into my group. Pretty effectively, too,” Hux said, giving a shrug as he drank. The sickly sweet-dry sensation was beginning in his mouth, and his head already felt light. He wasn’t about to stop drinking yet, however.

“Okay, so I brought Finn, and Poe. So what? Poe doesn’t get enough chances to get out. He’s always stuck writing or designing shit,” Rey huffed, just as a man dressed in some kind of jumpsuit appeared beside her. He definitely looked old enough to be a postgrad, as he passed off a drink to Finn, and flashed a smile up at Hux, who raised an eyebrow in response. How the hell had Kylo’s friends managed to bring the shortest people with them? They were all almost a head shorter than himself and Kylo, and he folded his arm over his chest, looking at them all.

“Hi. Poe Dameron. Pilot extraordinaire,” Poe grinned and winked, earning him a joking elbow in the ribs from Rey.

“Pilot for the night.” She teased, causing Poe to grin at her.

“I’ll beat you on that flight simulator one day. But yes, fine, for tonight.” He looked up at Hux for a moment, his eyes beginning to slide over to Kylo. “I don’t think you guys said your…names.” He paused, tilting his head a little. Hux glanced between him and Kylo, quicky clearing his throat.

“Hux. This is my house, after all. Even though I didn’t agree to this party  _ at _ all,”

Kylo seemed to stare back at Poe for a moment, and a weird tension arose from it. Hux had absolutely no idea where it had come from. Kylo then glanced to Hux and laughed, seemingly shrugging it all off in a matter of seconds, leaving Hux more confused than before. “You did agree in the end. Otherwise you’d be in your usual clothes and not dressed up like the Count,”

“Americans, please,” Rey huffed and rolled her eyes as Finn grinned at her.

“Your fault Rey. You got stuck in a flat of us.”

“Blame the uni. It’s their fault. It’s the weirdest culture shock,” Rey took another deep drink from her cup, and Poe seemed to blink out of it too, even if his confident smile seemed a touch unsteady.

“Hah. Yeah. And then your boyfriend found me, so really it’s all his fault,” he said, leaving Hux to stare between the two of them for a moment. What the hell had he just missed? It felt weird. Almost like when two feral cats spotted each other across the street and just stared until devolving into a screaming, writhing mess. That hadn’t happened, by some miracle, but Hux still had no idea what went on between the two of them. They had to have recognised each other, to some degree. The question was to what degree. He found himself staring and saying little, as everyone seemed to joke and tease between each other in the way acquantainces did when they met, before tugging on Kylo’s arm briefly. It earned him his attention, even if there was a slightly dazed look on his eyes. Drunk, most likely.

“Come on. You’re almost empty,” Hux said, briefly waving a hand at the group as he pulled Kylo away. He waited until they were almost to the kitchen before turning and looking at him, hard.

Kylo swayed to a stop, glancing down at him and raising a brow. “I thought you were getting me another drink?”

“What happened just then?” Hux asked, briefly looking past Kylo’s shoulder to the three before looking back at him. “With that Dameron guy? You both looked like you were going to tear each other apart. Or at least, you looked like that. He looked like he was  _ expecting  _ you to tear him apart,”

“Hux, come on,” Kylo laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I get a weird feeling off of people. I kind of had it when I first met Rey, and honestly, I definitely had it when I met you. It’s not a big deal,” he shrugged and finished off the rest of the drink, before showing off the empty cup to Hux. “Come on. I know you’ve got a stash somewhere.”

Hux continued to just stare at him, and Kylo huffed in frustration, rolling his eyes. “Jesus, Hux, what? I just got a weird feeling from him, that’s all. I don’t think it’s that much of a big deal.”

Hux looked for a fraction longer, before he eventually sighed in defeat. “Fine. And I do not have a stash. I never have, never will. Because the moment people think that there’s a stash, they’ll tear the house apart trying to find it.” Instead, Hux reached into his pocket, pulling out a silvered hip flask and dumping some of the contents into Kylo’s cup, before snagging a bottle of some random soft drink from the table and topping it up. Kylo just grinned at him, taking a swig and rolling it around in his mouth.

“What am I drinking right now?”

“Probably vodka.” Hux shrugged, sipping from his own cup. “You’d know if it was whisky.”

“I’d certainly know. And getting drunk on whisky has the potential to be…shit,” Kylo laughed and drank some more, turning to the rest of the party. Hux watched him, raising a brow briefly and finding himself tempted to ask more questions. He very much wanted to know what the hell that had been. Even if it hadn’t been anything, and he was being weirdly paranoid around Kylo. He contemplated it for a bit, before he heard a few peals of laughter from the middle of the room, watching as Phasma came into sight with a few other people around her, a bottle being slammed down onto the table. He paused, making the mistake of locking eyes with Phasma, who grinned and nodded slowly.

“Hux, get your ass over here. Right now.”

Hux shook his head a bit, putting one hand up just as Kylo looked between him and Phasma, a stupid smile starting to crawl across his face. He grabbed Hux’s wrist before he could scowl and pull it away, finding himself dragged over towards the centre of the room, to Phasma, the bottle, and the sinking feeling in his stomach that he had accidentally gotten himself into something he very much wished he hadn’t.

“Spin the bottle.” Phasma grinned, taking a slug of her drink that was undoubtedly a disgusting mix of many types of alcohol. She leaned back from her place on the sofa, looking as a few others settled in, and quickly waved a hand. “Shit, alright, more space. We need more space.” She shoved the table out of the way, everyone moving onto the carpet. Hux rolled his eyes and quickly folded his arms across his face.

“Phas, I’m not doing it.”

“Come on, Hux,” Kylo shook his head, tugging at Hux’s arm and pulling him down, a large smile already on his face. A few drinks in meant that for a moment, Hux just stared at the curling teeth up the side of his mouth, the whole thing starting to look even more macabre, everything swimming together in his vision. Then Kylo looked up at him, and Hux blinked, tilting his head. Weirdly, he liked it. Even when Kylo pulled on his arm again so that he was sat down, legs crossed and the stupid cape bunched up behind him against one of the sofas.

“Okay, okay, I started,” Phasma reached over, a flick of her wrist sending the bottle spinning over everywhere, only for it to slow to a stop by Rey, who had apparently just sat down. She blinked, looking up and spying Phasma. If Hux had been more sober, he might have seen the brief spark that darted between them, but instead all he saw was Phasma leaning up and over the bottle, a hand sliding across Rey’s cheek as she kissed her. It was only one, and Phasma leaned back again with a wink. Kylo laughed to himself, shaking his head even as Hux felt himself get a little concerned by the whole thing. Rey and Phasma had gotten lucky, it seemed. But he didn’t really feel like he was in the mood to kiss anyone tonight, let alone someone he might know. With Phasma, it would be fine. There would be no weird feelings there. But anyone else…

“Unamo, go on,” Phasma crowed, leaning back with her arm on the sofa. She spun, and a few more kisses happened rather rapidly. Either that, or Hux was far more pissed than he cared to admit. He tilted his head in surprise when he felt Kylo lean forwards next to him, spinning the bottle and slumping back, his shoulders bumping against the lower half of the sofa. There was a pause, and almost in slow motion, Hux watched the neck of the bottle turn and land on him. He heard Phasma laugh, and he turned his head towards Kylo. Really? Kylo laughed as he turned his head over to look at Hux.

“Alright, Red, let’s go,” he said, just as one broad palm came up to the side of his face, and Kylo was kissing him. Hux froze, his shoulders tensing and his eyes going wide, locked on what he could see of Kylo’s face. IT was fuzzy, given how close he was, and he could just about see tanned skin and eyebrow as lips moved against his. Soft, teasing, warm lips. Something swooped in his chest as Hux’s eyes fell shut, finding himself leaning in for just a moment. In mere seconds it was over, him pulling away from Kylo as Kylo pulled away from him, staring at him with those large, brown eyes of his. Hux stared back, his lips parting for a second before Rey laughed just behind him.

“Mate, you’ve gotten blood  _ everywhere _ ,” she said, and sure enough when Hux looked, Kylo looked like he had been punched in the mouth. Kylo lifted his hand to touch his mouth, drawing fingers away and then laughing too, shaking his head.

“At least it’s made of syrup,” he chuckled, putting the fingers back in his mouth and cleaning them off with a wink in Hux’s direction. Hux’s face flamed, and Phasma just laughed from her side of the circle.

“Alright, come on. We’ve got a circle to get around,” she called, taking another mouthful from her cup and waving a hand at him impatiently. Hux blinked a few times, before he leaned forwards and spun.

The last of the people were finally leaving. It was a good job they were. The house was wrecked beyond imagination. The banners had come down, the paper around the lights was somewhere on the floor, there was glitter and balloons and cups and bottles and an all manner of other things scattered about. IT was a fucking minefield. One that Hux was managing to navigate rather well, even in his state. He stumbled once, the floor feeling like it was slipping underneath him, his vision swimming in and out before he braced himself on the wall. He heard the front door slam, and when he looked up he saw Kylo sprawled out over the sofa, looking dazed and rather amused with himself. Hux soon realised they were both staring at each other. He coughed, pushing himself up from the wall and swaying over, collapsing down onto the sofa near Kylo.

“What?”

“What yourself?” Kylo murmured, his voice a slur as he tried to reach for his cup. It was empty, as he lifted it up to his lips, and it was quickly discarded back down onto the table. It fell over, and Kylo just waved a hand at it before sagging back onto the sofa.

“You look like you had fun,” Hux said back, his own voice much less clipped than usual. The alcohol had worked its way into him, loosening him up in the best way possible. If he didn’t drink like this on the regular, he had a dreadful feeling that he’d never relax. Kylo snorted, nodding.

“Yeah. It was good. I’m pretty drunk, though. I’ll feel like shit tomorrow,”

“That’s tomorrow. We have breakfast, stay in, and you’ll be fine,” Hux sighed, rubbing over his face and undoubtedly spreading the remnants of the eyeliner everywhere. He didn’t hear a response from Kylo immediately, and lowered his hand to look over at him. He was being stared at.

“Okay, now what?”

“You’re being nice to me,” Kylo said, a smile on his face. “About drinking, too. You know, the first night we went out, I’m pretty sure you just wanted to make me ill, with all the drinks you bought me.”

Hux paused, and Kylo’s smile faltered for just a moment. “Oh, shit, well…” he made a face, looking back across the ruined living room.

“It was nothing personal,” Hux said, untying the cape from around his neck and gratefully discarding it, then dealing with the high necked collar of his shirt. Once that was undone, he felt as though he could breathe more easily, and he let out a sigh. “You were being a dick. I was feeling tender after losing my other tutor. I’m not a very nice person, and it just…slipped out,”

Kylo continued to make a face, his lips pursed together as he looked at the coffee table in the middle of the room. “Yeah. You’re not a nice person. You’re a fucking dick, Hux,” his head lolled towards Hux, looking as though he had very little energy left in him to argue too much about it. “You’re such a dick. You wanted to sabotage me until Snoke made us fucking work together. You’d be happy to see me go down,”

Hux huffed, his face blooming with colour. They were the only ones still downstairs, at this point. He had a feeling that they’d begin to see the sun come up soon, and now all he wanted was to crawl into bed. He leaned back a bit, looking like he was ready to leave just as one large hand landed on his forearm, fingers curling around it. Hux paused, looking at Kylo with his slightly blurry vision, and how Kylo leaned towards him.

“You’re still really,  _ really _ fucking hot.”

Hux stared at him, at the curve of Kylo’s mouth, his own going dry for a moment as he thought. “Yeah?” He said, his voice steady. He was very grateful for that. “You think I’m hot?”

“It’s not obvious?” Kylo muttered, leaning up and letting his hand slide towards Hux’s upper arm, his fingers almost encircling his entire arm. Hux scoffed quietly, even if his attention was fixed on Kylo. It wouldn’t be that bad of a mistake to make. They didn’t live in the same house, really. Kylo had come into his friend group. His friends liked him, but he knew that they’d side with Hux if he asked. It was just…fun. Hux’s head tilted, his eyes never leaving Kylo. They found themselves focused on his mouth, with the stupid fake blood still smeared across it, and the liquid latex beginning to peel off.

“I think…” Hux breathed, able to feel his breath break across Kylo’s skin, the hand sliding up further to the back of his head…

“Oi, Hux.”

Hux leaped back as if he had been electrocuted, almost falling off of the sofa as Mitaka stuck his head in. His entire costume was wrecked. He’d been a zombie to start, with a slightly torn shirt and trousers spattered in fake gore, but now his clothes were literally falling off of him. Hux could see all of his chest, and it was smeared with various different things that Hux didn’t want to think about.

“Hux, Huxy Hux,” Mitaka crooned, swaying in and patting his shoulder. “Bed. Unamo’s getting everyone in bed,”

“Yes, you fucking idiot,” Unamo appeared, still stinking drunk but holding herself together much better than the average person. She caught Mitaka by the arm, and gestured to Hux and Kylo. “Bed. So we can all help clean up tomorrow. No wimping out,” she grabbed Mitaka and yanked him towards the stairs. They left, Hux still able to hear Mitaka mumbling to Unamo as they went through the hall together, occasionally bumping into a wall or the banister. He realised, he hadn’t seen Phasma since spin the bottle had packed up. He hadn’t seen Rey, either. Or the other two she had been with. Hux glanced back at Kylo, still looking rather dazed by what just happened.

“Uh…” Kylo nodded, weakly, rubbing at his face and smearing more blood. “I…uh…I’m going to go wash off,” he muttered, swaying up to his feet and almost knocking over the coffee table as he went. Hux watched him leave the room, his hands in his lap, before getting up too and going straight to his room. He didn’t lock the door. For all he knew, Kylo was going to stumble in soon and occupy the blow-up mattress again. It was still there, looking very well used. Hux half-smiled at it as he went to his own bathroom, scrubbing off whatever fake blood and other makeup he could, leaving the stupid remains of the costume on the bathroom floor. He’d deal with that tomorrow. He managed to crawl his way drunkenly into bed, rubbing at his face and making sure his curtains were drawn before sinking in. He was  _ not  _ being woken up by the fucking sun. Not this time around. He began to settle in, just as something large shuffled up behind him, lying in the bed next to him with a soft huff.

Hux pursed his lips. He’d deal with that tomorrow, too.


	5. this is why mom doesn't fucking love you

Hux stood over Kylo, before reaching over and pulling at the covers, until most of Kylo was out in the cold air of the room. Kylo groaned and shifted around on the bed, seeking the duvet. Hux pulled it further out of reach and huffed, dropping it onto the floor. “You’ve overslept.” Hux huffed, tapping his foot on the floor. Kylo seemed to come awake without opening eyes, before blearily opening one eye and looking up at Hux through a mess of dark hair.

“The fuck?” Kylo slurred, before groaning and rubbing a hand over his face.

“You’ve overslept. I told you this, before you started drinking with Thannison and Mitaka last night,” Hux hummed and tilted his head to the side, before pushing a hand into his jacket pocket. “You said you wanted to shoot guns like a Brit. Which means no assault rifles, no handguns, none of that,”

Kylo rolled over, already starting to shiver, rubbing his hands up and down his bare arms. “It’s fucking cold,” he muttered, making a face. “And I said I was considering it, it’s really not…” He paused and looked at Hux. He stared for so long that Hux raised a brow and let out an impatient huff.

“What?”

“My fucking  _ God _ you look posh,” Kylo said, his lips curling up a bit. Hux rolled his eyes.

“It’s clay pigeon shooting. You shouldn’t really just show up in a t-shirt and jeans.”

“Yeah, but you almost look like a fucking…foxhunter, or some shit.” Kylo pushed himself up to his feet, stepping closer and pushing a hand under Hux’s jacket, pulling at the jumper Hux had on underneath and rubbing the material between his fingers. “You even smell nice,”

Hux readjusted his jumper and rolled his eyes, yet again. “Yes. Because unlike you, I’ve had coffee, breakfast, and a shower. All while you snored, in  _ my  _ bed, and stank of alcohol.” Once again. Hux didn’t mind, really, but he had requested that Kylo be ready for the day. “Phasma’s already gone ahead. She’s the one with the house, so she has the gun cabinet.”

Kylo stared at him for a while, before he couldn’t help but grin and pull at Hux’s jumper again, just messing it up a touch. “How the fuck are you an actual student?”

“I’m rich student,” Hux hummed, his lips curling up. “With rich friends.” He trailed a hand across to Kylo’s side, and tilted his head at him. “And do you know what you need to do now?”

“What?” Kylo smiled, leaning in to Hux and breathing morning breath all over him. Hux reached down further, and snapped Kylo’s boxer waistband, before turning off.

“You need to shower, brush your teeth, and get in the car. You have fifteen minutes.”

Kylo looked rather miserable in the car. Hux had given him a coffee and a couple of breakfast bars, but even then he still looked like death warmed up. Despite the practice he’d had, Hux doubted that Kylo’s drinking tolerance had increased over the past few months. Maybe it would after the end of the year, once he’d given his liver a real kicking.

But he seemed to improve somewhat during the drive, and even started to perk up as dingy city turned into trees and rolling countryside. Eventually, Hux turned in down a dirt path, the tiny car bumping around a little bit. All of the feeling better Kylo had managed to accomplish during the drive vanished, if only for the five minutes on the path, before they were pulling into an open patch of dirt, that a few other cars were parked on. Hux glanced over at Kylo as he turned the car off, and made a face.

“If you dare vom in my car, I will absolutely throw you out and make you pay for a cleaning.”

Kylo opened up the car door and staggered out, and Hux wrinkled his nose as he watched Kylo disappear into some bushes for a moment.

Thankfully, Hux could only hear the sounds of the other rifles in the distance, the cracks as they went off. It was a strangely comforting sound, and when he was out of the car he stood for a moment, just enjoying it all. But unfortunately, they had to pause at one point, and just then he heard an ungodly retch from Kylo.

Hux sighed and began lock the car up, just as he heard someone crunching over the gravel towards him.

“Hux, finally. I thought I was going to start without you.” Phasma smiled, adjusting the Browning cracked open over her arm. “You were taking forever.”

“Well, I’ve got a bit of a problem with me.” Hux said, only for the rustling bushes to have the pair of them glancing over to Kylo, staggering out from the branches and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Phasma raised a brow, looking him up and down. “…Morning, Ren.” She hummed, as Kylo made a face and tugged on the car handle. It didn’t open, and Kylo pouted over at Hux.

“Hux, come on. I need some water,” he whined, and Hux rolled his eyes as he clicked the car keys in his pocket, watching Kylo disappear back into the car for a moment.

“I believe Thannison thought they needed to finish the jaeger last night. He acts like it’s got a sell by date”

Phasma made a face, before laughing anyway. “I don’t doubt that. Sure he’ll be fine to shoot?”

“Given the amount of times that I’ve been shooting while hungover, I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Hux hummed and shifted his weight, both hands going into his pockets for a moment. “He’s had a good ten hours since he was last drinking. If he was under the influence, he’d still be under the duvet. I’m sure he’ll be alright. Now,” he smiled in Phasma’s direction. “May I have my gun?”

Phasma hoisted the gun up into her shoulder and levelled her feet on the wooden floor of the trap, ear defenders in place and her attention fixed solely on the sky in front of here. There were a few beats, before Hux heard “Pull!” from Phasma’s mouth. He pressed down on the remote, a clay flung up into the air in front of them. It had barely left the dispenser before there was a muffled bang, and the clay was cleft in twain, the two pieces spinning off into the distant grass.

“Pull!”

Hux pressed the next button along, and Phasma turned to the side, following the next lower clay before there was another bang. This clay turned into a fine mist of pieces that clattered down onto the steadily growing pile just a few metres away, and when Phasma turned around she was grinning. Hux rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“You’ve had far more time, and far more practice than I have.”

“Hm, you keep telling yourself that,” Phasma broke the gun, catching the two shells and dumping them into the bin in front of her. “You know I’m just better. Two on rapport, now,” She slid a pair of shells into the gun and set up, standing back facing the trap.

“Rapport?”

Hux glanced over at Kylo, who had apparently just regained the ability to speak after watching Phasma show off, and Hux nodded. “Sending out the second clay after the first gunshot. Slower than a pair, but still two shots in quick succession.”

“Pull!”

Hux pressed the first button, hearing the boom of the gun, and pressed the next, followed by a slightly later boom. Both clays turned into bits and fell down into the bushes beyond, and Hux folded his arms. “She’s such a show off.”

Phasma turned and lifted one ear defender, winking at Hux. “That’s how it’s done. Want a go, Armie?”

Hux huffed as she broke her gun, shoving the remote into Kylo’s chest and stepping up into the trap. It took him only a moment or two to break open his gun, before he was sliding in a couple of shells and snapping it shut. “Phasma. On rapport, then a pair.”

Phasma took the remote neatly from Kylo and grinned at him, before turning to look at Hux. “On your command, oh mighty General,” she bowed, and Hux could only scowl before whipping around and lifting his gun.

“Pull!”

The first clay sailed out, and Hux had done this trap enough times to know where it was going to crest over the hill. He followed it and shot, the clay exploding into several parts. On rapport. He turned, the second clay appearing from above the bushes and whistling up away from him. He fired, and watched as part of the clay went flying off in another direction, while the rest of the clay wobbled but continued to sail over the bushes. Hux swore, leaning back and opening his gun up.

“Oh dear, better luck next time,” Phasma cooed from behind him, as Hux blindly gave her the finger and dealt with reloading. It was back into his shoulder in less than thirty seconds, and his cry of “Pull!” sent both clays out over the view in front of him. The first clay was easy, once again, but to his dismay Hux saw he had taken much too long to line it up. The second clay disappeared, and despite Hux’s slightly desperate shot towards it, it disappeared unscathed into the undergrowth. He swore again, and Phasma laughed.

“You need some practice,” she teased, as Hux emptied the two shells and turned, the barrel of the gun steaming in the cold air.

“I think we should let Kylo have a turn, really,” he hummed, to which Kylo seemed delighted, if a touch intimidated. Phasma smiled and looked over at him, keenly aware that at the moment she was the best shot out of the three of them. At least Kylo would make Hux look less tragic.

“Yeah?” Kylo came up to the trap, eager and ready with his ear defenders still pulled up. “Come on, Armie. I want a go,”

“If you call me Armie again, you can sit in the car.” Hux retorted, only to carefully hand over his gun.

Hux was immensely fond of his Winchester. It was second-hand of course, only a couple of years old and still in incredibly good shape. Shock-absorbing stock, dark wood, probably the most intimidating thing he owned. He loved it. Kylo on the other hand, just didn’t seem to know what to do with it.

Hux watched Kylo as he stepped up into the trap, lifting the gun up and…dear God, Hux couldn’t give him live round just yet. “Okay, no.” Hux shook his head, glancing over at Phasma, sliding his ear protectors off onto his neck. “Impromptu lesson. You go on to the other ones.”

Phasma shrugged and strutted off, looking the part of the confident hunter, and Hux looked back at Kylo. He had a pout, and Hux rolled his eyes at it.

“There’s a specific way of shooting a shotgun like this,” Hux hummed, getting up closer to Kylo and closing the lid of the box of rounds. “No shooting yet. We’ve got two hundred clays, so we can afford to waste a few. What you want to do first is put the stock right here.” Hux adjusted the stock into Kylo’s shoulder, feeling the other hum and lean back into him a little bit in the process.

It was touching, and Hux couldn’t help but smile. “You’ve got a bit of focus on other things,” he hummed, and Kylo shifted with a muffled laugh.

“How can I not? You’re literally this close to pressing your dick into my ass,”

Hux smirked. “All while we handle a masculine-coded phallic object.”

Hux could feel Kylo grin, how his cheek pressed up against the stock. “Now you’re getting it. You should come join us BAs for once.”

“Hm, no.” Hux adjusted Kylo’s grip, and pressed his hands against his shoulders. “Loosen up a bit. If you’re all tense, that stock is going to hit you and give you a bruise.”

Some of the tension fell away from Kylo’s shoulders, and Hux kicked at one of his feet, shifting it forwards. “Lean into your knees. You move the gun by moving your body.” Hux tested it a few times, his fingers sliding over Kylo’s waist, and a few more times just so he could enjoy himself. Kylo’s jumper and shirt combination was really far too thin for shooting in the winter, but it did mean that Hux could feel up as much of Kylo’s torso as he liked. Those jeans were rather tight too.

“Hux?”

Hux blinked and quickly cleared his throat. “The safety is on top, you just slide it forwards until it clicks, and then shoot. It’s first shot is upper barrel, second is lower. One pull for one, two pulls for two.”

Kylo laughed again. “Now Hux, that  _ really  _ sounds like an innuendo.”

Hux smiled himself, leaning back away from Kylo and stepping out of the trap. “Only because you have a filthy mind. Now.” He reached over, pulling off the remote from the side of the trap, finger over the button. “I’m going to fire a clay off. You follow it and say ‘bang’ when you want to shoot. We won’t fire this time, so you don’t need your ear defenders on.”

“Can’t I just shoot, Hux?” Kylo looked around and wiggled his hips side to side. “Or do you want more of a view?”

Hux rolled his eyes. “I’ve gotten  _ plenty _ of viewing in, don’t worry.” He adjusted his stance, looked up past Kylo’s shoulder, and smiled. “Pull!”

The clay shot off, and almost instantly Kylo lurched into action, a half-shrieked “Bang!” leaving his mouth.

The clay sailed off over the top of the valley, and Hux pursed his lips. “…alright. About ten minutes too early, and too far off to the left, but…I suppose it’s a start.”

Kylo scowled, lowering the gun and glancing over at Hux. “I had it, Hux.”

“You need to  _ follow _ the clay, Ren. You don’t shoot and stop.”

“Then give me a round and let me try it,”

Hux pursed his lips, looking at Kylo, before shrugging. At least it would show that Kylo had been horrifically off.

“Alright.” He smirked. “One in the top barrel. Same clay. Ear defenders.”

Kylo grinned as he pulled up the ear defenders. He seemed far too eager as he flipped open the top of the box of rounds, cracked the gun open and slid a round into the barrel. Hux had to admit, there was a brief moment of fear as Kylo turned towards him, but he did have the sense to keep the gun cracked open and lowered as he did. “Ready to see some magic?”

Hux made a huff and shook his head. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Go on, then.”

Kylo grinned and turned around, setting himself up, the gun cracking together and the sound of the safety clicking off. Hux pulled up his ear defenders, and sighed.

“Pull!” He pressed the button, and watched as Kylo lifted the gun, followed, waited…

And with a boom of the gun, the clay continued to sail over the edge of the valley and out of sight.

Kylo swore and lowered the gun, tugging his ear defenders off. “I hit it, right? I must have hit it?”

“Missed by a country mile,” Hux hummed as he demurely lifted one headphone off and trying to hide how smug he sounded, even as Kylo scowled and turned to glare at him.

“Everyone does the first time. Empty the shell into the bin right there, and let’s try again.” 

Kylo muttered something as he pulled the headphones back up, snapping open the gun. Unsurprisingly, Hux watched the shell sail over Kylo’s shoulder and straight onto the ground, as Kylo hurried to put another round into the chamber.

Hux grinned, snapping the headphone back onto his head, and folding his arms across his chest. “Pull!”

The clay whistled off overhead, and this time Kylo had the sense to lift the gun and follow it for a few more seconds, before the gun fired again. Hux wasn’t sure if it was shrapnel, but he did think he saw a chip fly off of the clay before it wobbled mid-flight and sailed into the bushes below. Kylo lowered the gun and turned, staring over at Hux.

“I definitely hit that one.”

“You clipped one of it’s wings. Maybe took off a feather, if it was the real thing,” Hux shrugged, still able to hear the slightly muffled sounds of Kylo’s voice.

Kylo frowned and shifted his feet a little. “You don’t…actually go out and shoot things, do you?”

Hux blinked, pulling off the ear defenders and seeing Kylo copy him, his hands still resting on the unbroken gun.

“Break that, and get rid of the shell. Properly, this time,” Hux said, and watched as Kylo obeyed before turning to look at him again.

“You didn’t answer. Would you shoot real animals?”

Hux scoffed, and shook his head. “I’m a good shot, but not good enough to ensure every hit from me would be a kill. I don’t hunt for sport.” He shrugged and stepped up closer, picking up the shell Kylo had fired off behind him and dropped it into the bin at the front of the trap. “Quite frankly, I think it’s outdated. We don’t have animals causing troubles for us in the same way we did a hundred years ago. Foxes are rare, and hunting with dogs gives over the actual stalking to an animal trained to do so. I believe some farmers still use it when foxes and rabbits threaten their livelihood, but that’s their business on their private land.”

He glanced up at Kylo, and rolled his eyes at the concern still on his face. “You’re looking at me like I’m a bunny slaughterer.”

“I-…” Kylo huffed and made a face, only to shake his head a little. “I guess you’re not. And you’d only ever do clays?”

“Yes.” Hux sighed, leaning back against the trap. “I’m not a monster, even if you still think that.” He looked around, before pointing. “Look.”

A robin had hopped up onto a tree just in front of the trap, flitting about a branch and puffing his crimson chest out, looking like an eager traffic light.

“Birds and the like always get in the way around here. And if they do, everyone around here would rather miss a clay than hurt them. I’m amazed anything living even comes here given the amount of shooting that happens, but they do. And to my knowledge, not one bird has actually been killed at this range since it opened.” He looked up at Kylo, and then groaned at the soft look on the other’s face.

“I take it back. Think of me as the bunny slaughter.”

“No. Hux likes birds. Hux doesn’t kill innocent animals,” Kylo teased in a soppy voice, getting closer to him and pushing a hand under his jacket again. “Hux cares,” He dragged the word out in a sing-song way, until Hux eventually cracked a smile and huffed, shoving at Kylo’s chest.

“You’re the worst,”

“But you have a heart somewhere in there,” Kylo grinned, even pressing his cold nose forward and pecking Hux’s equally cold, red cheek. “You do care, about some things.”

Hux allowed himself the briefest of smiles, before he gave a proper push at Kylo’s chest, one hand on the barrel of the gun to stop him from scraping it against the wood of the trap. “Are you going to start shooting, or am I going to have to show you how it’s done?”

“I think I’d be better off having Phasma told me how it’s done,” Kylo grinned, cheeky as anything, even as Hux swatted him on the side. “No, I want to try a few more times. Then we’ll see who the better shot is,” He turned as Hux stepped out of the trap, and lifted the gun up to his shoulder.  

Much to Hux’s dismay, Kylo did actually improve over the hour they were there. He started to consistently hit things – more than he consistently missed them, anyway – and got to the point where he could even do a few on rapport at a couple of traps. It would take him longer before he was anywhere near Phasma, but Hux couldn’t help but be mildly impressed.

Kylo had had experience with guns before, that much was clear. He’d just finished firing at a few clays that soared up out of the frost-coated bushes and then dropped back down again, when Hux hummed and pulled off his ear defenders.

“You’ve got an eye for the ones that are almost stationary. Have you done this before?”

Kylo paused for a moment, cracking the gun and still somehow sending the shells over his shoulder. That was something he really needed to work on.

“I mean…it’s land of the assault rifle in the US,” he hummed noncommittedly, but when he glanced back at Hux he seemed to know that wouldn’t be enough of an answer. He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “My dad had a pistol. It was this beefy revolver type thing, fucking ancient…Colt Python. Made back in the fifties. I don’t know how long he’d had it but he really looked after it, and when I was older he used to take me out back and let me fire at tin cans and stuff like that.” Kylo smiled a bit and shrugged. “I was pretty good. But I was only allowed to use it when he was around. Once he went into the house for a bit so I put some bullets in and started firing, and my mom fucking  _ flipped _ when she saw me out there, apparently on my own,”

Hux tilted his head a little and pursed his lips. He was pretty certain that this was the first proper thing he’d gotten out of Kylo about what his life had been like back in America. He was seeing something to Kylo now. Almost a country bumpkin, somewhat similar to Hux’s own upbringing, the only difference being the countryside that they grew up in.

Kylo seemed to have caught on to what Hux was thinking, and he quickly shrugged and turned back around, a couple of shells going into the chamber. “But that was ages ago. Pretty sure people didn’t even had proper licenses back then, or anything like that. Just roll on up to the counter and grab yourself an AK-47 because  _ freedom _ ,” he closed the gun up, but kept the safety on. “This is way better. Can I have the crazy peacock one again?”

Hux stared at Kylo for a moment before half a smile appeared on his face, the remote coming up and the ear defenders coming down. “Tell me when you’re ready.”


	6. ooh i like your accent, where you from?

The library was particularly quiet at three in the morning. During exam periods there would be a healthy amount of people around, books strewn about with red eyes staring at screens. The brave ones were those who slept, heads on desks, before waking up in an hour or two to down another energy drink and get right back to it. Hux was there to do that exact thing. On top of Snoke’s latest ridiculous essay, the assignment for Tarkin was due in a few days. Even with Hux working all his hours on it, it was proving…difficult to get done. He scrubbed a hand over his face, staring down at the drawings in front of him. The calculations had started to blur together hours ago, with his own scribblings becoming increasingly less legible. He stared down at the lines, narrowing his eyes a little and tipping his head off to the side. He could just lean his head on the desk for a bit. Just…Hux’s head drooped, hanging low. He could already feel the strain on the back of his neck, but it was sweet, sweet relief.

“Hux?”

Hux jolted back up, hands passing over his papers, trying to organise them. “I’m awake. I’m awake. I’ve almost finished this section, I just need to calculate this, and then I…”

“Hux. Christ.”

Hux turned his head, looking back and blinking slowly before rubbing his eyes. Kylo. He hadn’t seen him in…days? Weeks? It had been a while. They’d stopped seeing each other to do their essays. Ever since that spat a few…months ago? God. Hux genuinely couldn’t remember. He blinked again, a bit more quickly this time. “What are you doing here?”

Kylo shifted from one foot to another, looking equally beat. The dark circles under his eyes were even darker, his skin having taken on a sallow appearance. Not that the fluorescent bulbs above them helped much. Hux probably looked like death, now he thought about it.

“Snoke’s essay. And, uh…a few other things.” Kylo muttered, rubbing at the back of his head. “He’s…I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.”

“Clearly.” Hux reached blindly for his travel mug, taking a sip of his lukewarm coffee. It was really quite disgusting, now. But he needed all the caffeine his body could take.

Kylo began to narrow his eyes, his lip curling back a fraction of an inch, just before his mouth opened wide and he gave an almighty yawn. His whole body moved with it, his arm lifting to try and cover his mouth, chest puffing out before he slumped, looking at Hux blearily. Hux stared for half a moment, before he yawned too, hard enough to make tears form at the corners of his eyes. When his eyes cleared, he saw Kylo was looking at him.

Hux stared back, watching as a smile teased at Kylo’s lips. It grew the moment that Hux found himself copying it, and he laughed quietly, shaking his head. “Fuck’s sake.”

“Yeah. We’re both super fucking tired.” Kylo huffed, the easy smile forming on his face again. How long had it been since Hux had seen that smile? It was a good smile, and just seeing it made Hux feel a little better about this shitty week. He looked towards the desk next to him, which had been free for hours, before sighing and getting up.

“Want to come outside with me for a bit?”

Kylo’s brow furrowed, and he tilted his head. “Outside?”

“Yes, outside.” Hux reached for his jacket, tugging it on and pulling out a carton of cigarettes, to which Kylo nodded his head understandingly. “It’s cold. We’ll wake up a bit. And I’ve been sat here for too fucking long.” Hux brought out a cigarette, sticking it behind his ear and nodding over towards the staircase. It wasn’t too far to the outside world, but here deep in the library it was almost impossible to tell what time of day it was. Hux relied on his watch and his phone, what with the rest of the library being very similar to that of a casino.

Kylo seemed to think for half a second, before slinging his bag onto the desk next to Hux’s and tugging his hoodie on, pushing both hands into his pockets as he followed Hux outside. Hux felt the chill the moment they were near the doors, and when they stepped outside he was shivering in seconds. It was  _ cold _ . His teeth began to chatter, even as he stuck his cigarette into his mouth and fiddled with his lighter. Hux watched Kylo tug up his hood as they moved off to the side of the entrance to the library, both huddled close to the building as if they could pretend that it was warmer there. Hux took a deep inhale of smoke, and looked over to Kylo as he blew it out to the side.

“I’m surprised you wanted to talk to me at all,” he hummed, tapping ash onto the floor. Kylo’s lips twitched up, and he gave a nod.

“I know. I’m surprised too. But…” Kylo gave a quiet laugh, scuffing his trainer against the bricks of the building. “You looked like fucking shit. And I know when you look like fucking shit, I know you’re working too hard.”

Hux thought about that for a moment. Only Phasma really knew that. The rest of the group…they just always assumed he looked like shit. Or they were too wrapped up in themselves to really see outside of it.

“You look like shit too.” Hux said, which earned him another laugh from Kylo, who just nodded.

“Yeah. But I always look like shit. Now I just look tired, and like shit.”

There were a few quiet minutes, where Hux paid attention to his cigarette, and the world around them. It was late, so barely any cars passed along the road in front of the library. The gardens around it were still and quiet, with dew beginning to settle on everything. There was even a mist lingering, clinging to the trees and the other buildings, making everything look dark and cold. Hux enjoyed it, even if he could feel his entire body quaking with cold. He was so preoccupied, that he didn’t clock Kylo until he realised that the hoodie had been unzipped, and Kylo was wrapping it around Hux and tucking it in place. Hux scowled, looking at him for a moment.

“I’m not a child.”

Kylo rolled his eyes. “Fuck, alright, I get it. You’re not a child. But you’re also a fucking idiot who doesn’t have a better coat. Just take the damn thing and be grateful, alright? You can just give it back to me when we go inside.”

Hux opened his mouth to say something sharp, only for it to close. Kylo was now rubbing at his arms, the long sleeves of his shirt clearly not enough to beat out the cold. They were rumpled, clearly where they’d been pushed up over his forearms, but Kylo had seemingly tugged them down the moment he’d handed over his jumper. Cold enough not to show off his arms. That was really saying something. Hux considered him, before shaking his head slightly.

“I don’t have to be grateful.”

“I know. You should be.” Kylo pushed a hand through his hair and rubbed at his arms.

Hux tapped off more ash this time, and sighed. “Do we want to do this now?”

It really was the elephant in the room. The argument. The screaming, throwing things argument. Stupid, now that Hux looked back at it, but he wasn’t going to admit that to Kylo. If anyone asked him, he’d tell them it was pride. Kylo narrowed his eyes for just a moment, still shivering.

“We can’t do this inside? You know, where it’s warm?”

Hux blew out more smoke. “You’ll be more honest like this.”

“Oh,  _ you’re  _ worried about  _ me  _ being honest?” Kylo gave a gesture with one hand, before it was firmly returned to his upper arm, still trying to warm himself up without his jumper. It was stupid, in Hux’s eyes. Why give up his jumper when he was now going to freeze? No point in taking that. Hux would have let Kylo freeze, if it had been the other way around. Or…would he? Now guilt was starting to weigh down on his shoulders, just where the hoodie was placed.

Hux sighed, shaking his head. “Okay, fine. Look, I…” He made a face. “I may have…said some things that…I regret. That were stupid. I shouldn’t have said them. I was stressed, I was tired, I wasn’t thinking right. I…fuck. I told you I’ve never done any of this before. Not properly.” He pulled his cigarette back up to his mouth, using it as an excuse to not talk for a moment. “I just…fuck. I didn’t want to have an argument with you, ever. I thought it would ruin it. So I suppose I saved it all up, and when we had that one, it just…” Hux lifted one hand, moving the fingertips from his mouth to out in front of him. It had spilled out. All of it. Stupidly.

Kylo had now tucked his hands under his armpits as he looked at Hux, clearly taking it all in. Quiet too, which hux wasn’t expecting. The last time they’d tried to have a conversation, Kylo had all but screamed over him, hurling objects about the room like a man possessed. Right now, he was just…thinking. Considering, even. Hux gripped at his cigarette, his arms drawn in close to his chest.

“I…” Kylo began, looking out at everything. It was very quiet. Without any cars, or students about, the whole campus was very dead. And with that, there was barely any noise. Hux could hear the faint sounds of cars from a mile or two away, but that was it.

“I did some things I’m not proud of either.” Kylo said, his eyes locked on  the ground by Hux’s feet. “You’re just…you’re so fucking irritating when you want to be. You know how to push everyone’s buttons, and then you do, and you just…” Kylo made a sound, stamping his feet on the ground. “For fuck’s sake, you’re such a pain in the fucking ass.”

Hux’s lips pursed together for just a moment, before Kylo shook his head. “But…you had a good reason for…all that. A really good reason. I was a shit. A real shit. So I’m…sorry.”

Hux looked at Kylo, who lifted his head to look at him. Those deep, dark brown eyes, looking even darker in the lack of light, and Hux found himself staring. Until he felt something begin to burn his fingers.

“Shit,” Hux muttered,  hurling the butt of the cigarette down by his feet and grinding it into the bricks with the heel of his shoe. He shook his head, and gave Kylo a look. “I’m sorry too. It was…stupid. All of it.” Hux paused as Kylo began to smile.

“I can barely remember what we fought over.”

Hux laughed with a smile. “I can’t either. Either that, or I’m so tired I can’t remember anything. I can barely remember what I was working on back there.”

“So you never thought that you should take a break?” Kylo stepped in close to Hux, his fingers sliding past his hoodie to reach Hux’s waist. “I knew I should have asked Phasma to keep an eye on you. Especially with all the work you’ve had recently.”

Hux scoffed, but that didn’t stop him from moving closer too. It was warmer, next to Kylo, his broad chest practically radiating heat. Hux’s fingers left his pocket, and he tugged at Kylo’s shirt. “Maybe you should have. But now I’m here. Shattered, and behind on my deadline. Because of you.”

Kylo seemed to think for a moment, pursing his lips together, before he leaned down close to Hux’s ear. “You know, I think I could put you a bit more behind your deadline. It’d be worth it. Very worth it.”

Hux cocked his head to the side, staring at Kylo. “Are you…honestly suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t considered it. You’ve been here for longer than me. You’ve spent more hours in the library than I have.” Kylo grinned, leaning in. Hux could feel his warm breath on his ear. “I bet you know all of the more private places.”

Hux shivered, partially from the cold, and partially from the low rumble of Kylo’s voice making him think of very inappropriate things. “You’re somehow worse than me,” he muttered, even as fingers teased at the hem of Kylo’s shirt, only to briefly duck up under it. Kylo gave an affronted gasp, pulling away from their icy touch.

“That’s not nice,”

“I’m  _ not  _ nice,” Hux grinned back, catching at Kylo’s shirt as he tried to go and looking up at him. “Does this mean we’re…together again?”

Kylo’s silence was worrying, at first, until Hux met his gaze and saw something rather soft there, even if there was a touch of hesitation too. “…Can we figure that out later?” Kylo said, eventually, his hand lifting for long enough to tuck a lock of unstyled hair behind Hux’s ear. “When I’m not exhausted?”

Hux raised a brow, only to relent and give a nod. “Fine. Only because I’m about as tired as you.”

“But not tired enough to fuck.” Kylo’s smile was back, as he dipped his head down to catch Hux’s lips in a kiss. In comparison to their freezing hands, Kylo’s lips were warm, and heat radiated from his cheeks as he pressed in. Hux sighed into the slow slide of warm mouths, a flicker of tongue across his lower lip making a shiver skitter down his spine. They were definitely going to do this.

He kissed Kylo for a while, both of them leaning into each other’s forms before the kiss broke, both breathing heavy puffs of white mist out into the night air. Hux found Kylo’s hand, giving it a squeeze before he was off, already dedicated as to what he wanted to do. Kylo followed wordlessly, and when Hux glanced over his shoulder he saw a stupid grin on Kylo’s face. He would have rolled his eyes, if he ddin’t find it so damn endearing.

He tugged him back inside, through the rows and rows of desks, the heating of the building turning both of their faces and hands read. Hux quickly shucked off Kylo’s hoodie and his coat as they went past his desk, dumping them unceremoniously before taking them through the stacks of the library. The whole building was a mismatch of different eras, the newer parts sleek with plenty of well-sized desks and stocked shelves, with the older parts looking so old they could have been a part of some eighties tv set. Those were the ones that Hux was going for. He might not have ever fucked in the library, but he’d been in it long enough to know what got checked first. Where they were going was…private. Especially for three in the morning.

Hux was efficient, turning left and right, down a small corridor and a set of stairs, until they came to the section of the library he knew would work. Warm, thankfully, shelves stacks with ancient looking books, a small flicker of old lightbulbs around them. Hux was just starting to wonder whether this would be a good idea, as he felt hands upon his waist, turning him and pushing him up against one of the shelves with very little ceremony. Hux huffed, hands finding lovely, broad shoulders and lovely muscled back that bowed with Kylo’s movements. He was crowed back against the books by Kylo’s form, lips pressing insistently to his jaw and throat.

“Kylo,” Hux purred, fingers teasing once again at the hem of his shirt. This time, Kylo didn’t complain as he slid fingers up across his stomach, his ribs, finding the curve of his pec under the thin material. God, Kylo was so fucking shredded. Clearly he hadn’t ever lost that, but how he was finding time to work out and do all the essays Snoke was giving him…Hux would never know. He groaned as one thick thigh insinuated itself between his own, rubbing up and in, almost lifting Hux off of the bloody ground.

“Christ,” he choked, as teeth caught at his throat.

“Good,” Kylo said, his voice breaking over Hux’s skin. “You were too in your fucking head. Get out.” He soothed over the nip with soft lips. “Be  _ here _ . With me.”

Hux groaned as his fingers found Kylo’s upper arms, digging in and pulling him closer at the same time. Sweet friction made his face flush, and Hux shamelessly ground his hips down against Kylo’s thigh. It was thick, solid, keeping him on his toes even as he ground down onto it. Hux could feel his lips parting as hot breath huffed from his mouth, his jumper suddenly feeling far too warm for him.

“There you are,” Kylo all but purred, lips catching softly, almost sweetly, at the corner of Hux’s mouth. He slid one hand down Hux’s ribs, catching the edge of the jumper and pushing up under. His hand was cold, and Hux gave a shiver, almost pulling away from the cold fingers until they found one pert nipple. As they rubbed across it they warmed, and soon Hux was moaning softly once again, his head tipping forwards, tipping back again, feeling contained and freed all at once.

“Fuck, Kylo…Christ,” Hux muttered, even as he felt Kylo grin against his neck.

“That what you want?”

“Mmph…not a chance,” Hux said, giving his head half a shake. Kylo slowed a little, enough to make Hux whine softly.

“Why not?”

“Kylo,” Hux huffed, pulling back enough to open his eyes, staring at Kylo’s face. His cheeks were flushed too, most likely from the sharp contrast of the freezing outside and the warm indoors. But those dark eyes were darker still, pupils blown wide and focused on his face. “I’ve not got…you know…” Hux gestured briefly with one hand, only to roll his eyes at Kylo’s confused expression. “Lube. Condoms. Any of it.”

“Oh.” Kylo pulled back a little, one hand digging into his back pocket before he pulled both out, a two small foil packets in his palm. Hux blinked, before he slid his gaze back up to Kylo with a deadly glare.

“Kylo  _ fucking _ Ren why the  _ fuck _ -“

“They’re always in there,” Kylo muttered, folding his fingers over his palm and pushing the packets back into his pocket, fixing Hux with a similar glare. “I…fuck.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Look, sometimes…I get off in the bathroom, alright? I get fucking stressed, and this just…it just works, alright? Easy clean up. All that.”

Hux stared at Kylo for a moment, before a snort erupted from him, and he clapped a hand over his face. “Oh my fucking…Christ, Kylo. Are you serious?”

“What?” Kylo leaned in, his voice low as he pressed his lips tentatively, then more confidently to Hux’s jaw and throat, easily turning his laughter into other pleased sounds.

“Just…you,” Hux shook his head a little with a grin. “I actually believe you, too. Weirdly enough.”

“You do?” Kylo tilted his head up, those stupid, dark brown eyes so soft that they caught Hux off guard for a moment. Something swelled up in his chest, and Hux slid both hands from Kylo’s arms to his face, smoothing a thumb across his cheekbone.

“Apparently I do.” He said, smiling. “Otherwise we definitely wouldn’t be doing this.” This time, Hux leaned down, catching Kylo’s soft, plush mouth against his own, feeling Kylo shudder gently and press up into it. He was telling the truth. Hux could tell. He let his tongue press between lips and sink into the slick heat of Kylo’s mouth, feeling the other press up again, crowding him back against the stacks until he could feel the spines of books digging into his shoulder blades. Fuck, he’d missed Kylo. Hux shivered as he tugged at Kylo’s shirt, pushing it up enough to slide across his warm hip, across his back, fingernails digging in just slightly. Kylo pulled away, and Hux made a sound of complaint.

“I want to eat you out,” Kylo breathed, his lips shining and his eyes bright.

“Here?” Hux briefly glanced either side of them. No one was around. It was late. Kylo’s eyes were so dark, and his mouth was  _ so  _ good…

”Fuck,” Hux breathed, as Kylo’s hands found his hips and turned him to face the stacks. Hux pressed one hand to the shelves, feeling Kylo’s breath against the nape of his neck.

“I’ve got you,” Kylo said, lips touching to the base of Hux’s skull, before the large weight of him disappeared down. Hux’s belt jingled softly as Kylo undid it, tugging it out of the way and pulling at his trousers, until they were positioned halfway down his thighs. Hux briefly shifted at his underwear was unceremoniously tugging down, not far enough to free him but just enough for Kylo to get his mouth where he fucking wanted. Hux bowed his head for just a moment, thinking he was getting a slight reprieve as Kylo’s thumbs pried him apart, and warm breath warned him of just how fucking close Kylo was. Hot, wet tongue slid up, passing over his entrance and making Hux groan, his head coming to press against his forearm.

“Fuck, Kylo,” he breathed, half turning his head around. He could  _ feel  _ Kylo smiling, even as the tongue reapplied itself, hot and wet and sinking into him already. It curled, delicious heat making his toes curl, his breath coming short in his chest. If someone walked in now, they would see Kylo, face deep in his ass, eating him out like his life depended on it. Hux groaned and one hand moved back, fingers sinking deep into Kylo’s hair.

It definitely encouraged Kylo. His tongue twisted, stretching and lapping at him, as fingers moved around to his front and began to palm at his cock. It was hard already, almost aching, and at the first sense of pressure Hux shuddered and caught his lower lip with his teeth. There was an attempt to be quiet. Not that it was going to last with Kylo fucking him with his tongue, fingers already starting to wrap around his cock. Hux moaned and arched his back, still clinging onto Kylo’s hair with one hand. He could feel Kylo’s breath huffing out across him, buried as deep as he was, and Hux gave a twitch around Kylo’s tongue. He felt it stiffen, and then hold in place, as fingers squeezed his cock. Hux let out a choked sound, clenching again, and he fucking  _ felt _ Kylo moan behind him. Hux gasped and his fingers tightened again.

“If you don’t get your fuck-….your fucking cock in me soon, I’m going to fucking come,” Hux said, his breathing coming hard. Kylo seemed to slow for a moment, pulling away and pressing his lips to Hux’s ass.

“Maybe you should come. I can still fuck you. And you’ll be so twitchy if I do.” Kylo breathed, and Hux squeezed his eyes shut, his back bowing.

“Fuck.”

“You’ll give me that look,” Kylo said, still stroking Hux’s cock. “All wide eyed, flushed. Like you want to stop but you would kill me if I did. You want to get fucked like that.”

Hux could feel himself  _ panting _ now, lips parted and chest beginning to heave.

“You want me to use you.” Kylo’s fingers curled, and Hux gave a soft cry, his cock twitching in Kylo’s hand.

“Oh fuck, Kylo,” Hux could feel the heat on his face spreading down towards his chest, the back of his neck, his clothes far too warm for him now.

He bit down on his lip for just a second, trying to will himself not to come, even as Kylo’s fingers disappeared from his cock, and there were hands on his hips. Hux began to shift, glancing over his shoulder, just as he felt the slick head of Kylo’s cock press to his entrance, dripping lube. The breath was stolen from Hux for a moment as Kylo pressed further, hands holding him steady as he pushed, cock stretching him wide. Hux gripped onto the shelf, one hand reaching back and finding Kylo’s fingers. Without a word, fingers tangled together, still pressed to Hux’s hip, as Kylo slid forwards and seated himself in Hux. He panted, hard, his face burning with all of it. He was so fucking full of Kylo, split open on his cock.

Hux was quiet for a moment, as he felt Kylo lean forwards, draping himself up across his back, lips pressing to his neck.

“Okay?” He said, voice rough and low in Hux’s ear. “Still with me?”

Hux gave a small inclination of his head, hand leaving Kylo’s on his hip to find the back of his head, fingers stroking almost tenderly through the other’s hair. “I’m here.”

“Comfortable?” There was a hint of a smirk in that, and Hux couldn’t help but give an exasperated huff of laughter.

“Why don’t you get moving, then I’ll tell you?”

Kylo kissed the back of his neck and rolled his hips. Hux shuddered and his head bowed forwards again, still pressed to his forearm. Kylo was so hot and thick inside of him, solid, pulling out barely an inch and sliding forwards again. Hux hadn’t even noticed when Kylo had gotten himself out of his trousers, but fuck had he gotten ready quick.

Kylo’s hand slid up Hux’s chest, bracing across it as fingers found a place around his throat. Resting for the moment, firm but not pressing, enough to make Hux’s breath catch now and then as he found some semblance of rhythm. Sweet friction, a sweet burn from being stretched, and then that pressure on his neck. Hux couldn’t help but moan, able to feel the sound reverberate up from his chest against Kylo’s hand. Fucking  _ perfect _ . Perfect fucking, if anything.

Hux rocked back when he could, Kylo letting out a low growl and nipping at his neck, his thrusts becoming sharper, the sound of skin against skin starting to fill the room. Hux gasped and groaned, gripping at Kylo’s head just as he heard the sound of a door creaking open. Kylo froze against his back, fingers tightening just briefly on his throat. It was almost enough to eke another sound out of Hux, but he too fell silent as they both listened. Footsteps, mere feet away from where they were. The sounds of books shifting, a trolley being tugged across linoleum.

Hux felt Kylo shift behind him, and give another push. Hux’s lips pressed tight together, his brows furrowed with the effort of staying quiet. Kylo tried again, and Hux pressed his mouth to his forearm, the quietest sigh of a moan leaving him. The trolley continued to roll, and Hux felt Kylo lean in.

“Trying to be quiet?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “What if we got caught? With your pants around your ankles, getting fucked into the shelf. Getting fucked like the slut you are?”

Hux shuddered and all but curled in on himself, his cock twitching between his legs.

“You’re trying so hard, but I think I can get you to break,” Kylo gave his hips a long, slow roll, a hand coming around to Hux’s front, finding his cock once again. Hux almost broke at the first stroke of his hand, painfully in time with the cock thrusting into him. “Think they’d come find us? Or would they be too shy?”

Hux could feel heat boiling and curling in the pit of his stomach, the threat of an orgasm beginning. He was going to fucking come with someone less than fifteen feet away from where they were. Kylo was still going, whispering filthy things into his ear, making Hux’s knees quake and his eyes squeeze shut.

It seemed to go on forever, and just as Hux was feeling himself about to break, there was the sound of the trolley, the door clicking open, and after just a moment more of silence, the sound of the door swinging shut. Hux let out a shuddering moan and arched back against Kylo, his forehead pressing to his arm in place of his hand, a damp patch on his jumper from his mouth. “Fuck me, Kylo, please, fuck, just  _ fuck _ me-“

Kylo’s hips snapped forwards, fingers tightening about Hux’s throat as he slammed into him. Choked sounds left Hux’s throat as Kylo moved, hard and fast and fucking  _ perfect _ , his fingers squeezing on his cock at just the right fucking moment. Hux choked and convulsed, his cock spilling over Kylo’s fingers, his throat catching on his breath as the sweet pressure continued. Kylo wasn’t done. Hux twitched and groaned softly to himself as Kylo’s thrusts quickened, only for him to bury himself deep and stay there. Hux could feel Kylo spilling inside of him, the hot pulse of his cock, and then Kylo’s weight draping hot and heavy across his back.

Kylo was breathing against his neck, and for a moment they both just breathed together, heavy panting slowing to laboured breathing, to barely audible at all. Hux could feel his legs shaking, and as Kylo pulled out of him he had to press both hands to the shelves to keep himself upright. His face was still flushed when he tugged up his underwear and trousers, turning to look at Kylo. His cheeks were painted with a pink flush, his eyes bright and mouth wet, even as he grinned and did up his jeans, stepping back into Hux’s space.

“That was close,” he breathed, mouth finding Hux’s lips. He tasted like ass, and Hux couldn’t help but give a sigh as he stroked a hand up through his hair.

“You’re fucking filthy, Kylo Ren.” Hux grinned too, sliding his arm around the other’s waist to tug him close, both of their bodies warm and pressed together. Sated, for the time being. Hux kissed Kylo long and slow, tongues sliding over each other until they were breathless once again, and Hux couldn’t taste himself on Kylo’s tongue anymore. He leaned back, head thudding gently against the books.

“I need to get back to work.”

Kylo considered him for just a moment, his cheeky smile softening out as he leaned up, lips pressing to Hux’s forehead. Surprisingly tender, considering all they had done. Hux raised a brow at him, as Kylo pulled Hux away from the stacks, and stuck his hand into the back pocket of Hux's jeans.

“Let’s get you back, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so it ends, not with a whimper but with a bang ;) 
> 
> due to bad timings and dissertations, this is kind of the end of the main story thread of chapters. the last 2 chapters were written ahead of time, meant for slightly later in the story that i just had to write, and they fit in rather nicely here. sorry for any disappointments, but if people want to know what i had planned you only need to ask :* thank you very much for reading everyone who did, kudos are loved and comments are mulled over and enjoyed like a fine vintage <3
> 
> UPDATE: so. wow. I genuinely did not expect this many people to read/kudos/comment on this fic. And as a result, I am going to try (dissertation allowing) to trickle through the entire plot of what I had planned for this fic ! Thank you everyone who has left kudos, a comment, who's even opened this. You're making this fic, guys. Appreciate it <3


End file.
